Not Yours
by missnothingx
Summary: Effy Stonem transfers from Beauxbatons to Hogwarts. In an instant everyone, especially Harry and Ron, wants to get to know her. But how will getting to know Effy affect the relationship between Harry, Ron, and Hermione?
1. Transfer Student

A/N: My new story. It's a Skins/Harry Potter crossover. So far only Effy will appear in the series for the next few chapter but slowly other people like Pandora, Cook, Emily, Tony, etc. will show up.

And basically Harry and Ron are like the Freddie and Cook of the story, just so you know.

Enjoy!

* * *

Chapter 1: Transfer Student

* * *

Harry sat at the Gryffindor table, as the giant doors of the Great Hall opened. McGonagall strode in, a roll of parchment tucked under her arm as the new first years came in. The little eleven year olds looked around in astonishment, but one of the first years stood out.

Actually, she didn't even look like a first year. She looked about Harry's age, fourteen. She was at the rear of the group of first years, not looking around, she looked as if she was uninterested by the enchanted the ceiling, floating candles, etc.

"Blimey." Ron whispered in his ear. "Look at her."

Harry nodded. She had flowing brown hair that stopped in the middle of her back, freckles were spread across her nose, and she had these piercing blue eyes.

All the boys in the Great Hall watched as she walked up with the cluster of little ones. The unknown girl gave off the presence that she may be new but she would rule the school soon enough.

"Now," Professor McGonagall said. Her voice echoed throughout the Great Hall, seeing as everyone was strangely quiet. "As you all can see, we have a new student who is not eleven years. She is a transfer student to Hogwarts from Beauxbatons; she will be joining the fourth year students." McGonagall unrolled the roll of parchment and began to call out names. "Jones, Jeremy."

A little brown curly haired boy, walked up nervously. When he sat down on the stool and McGonagall placed the Sorting Hat on his head everyone waited.

"_RAVENCLAW_!" The hat bellowed.

The Ravenclaw's burst into applause as Jeremy jumped off the stool to join his House mates.

McGonagall went through twenty more students, 6 for Gryffindor, 4 for Slytherin, 5 Ravenclaw, and 5 Hufflepuff.

"Stonem, Elizabeth." McGonagall called.

The girl that Harry was staring at walked up and placed herself on the stool. Her blue eyes for a moment met Harry's emerald green ones, and then she looked straight ahead as the fabric touched her brown head.

"_SLYTHERIN_!" The Hat called out after it had its moment of thinking.

The Slytherin table, mostly from the boys, roared with cheers. Elizabeth hopped off the stool and confidently walked over to the Slytherin table and sat down next to none other than Draco Malfoy, who patted the seat beside him.

"Sucks she's in Slytherin." Said Fred. "She's darn pretty."

The boys nodded in agreement. "Is that all you guys care about? Her looks? You don't even know what she's like." Said Hermione.

The boys shrugged and everyone turned to watch the rest of the Sorting.

After the rest of Sorting, the feast began. Harry couldn't help but look at Elizabeth from over his shoulder. She was listening to Malfoy talking, but she didn't seem to be _really_ listening to him. She looked from Malfoy to him; she gave him a small smile. The smile read to him_ 'You fancy me? But you'll never get me.'_

Draco caught Harry looking and glared at him. "What are you looking at Potter?" He spat.

"Nothing that concerns the likes of you, Malfoy." Said Harry with equal bitterness.

Harry turned back around, stabbing his vegetables with his fork.

"Harry!" said Ron. "You're hurting your food." He said, looking at his vegetables. Harry shrugged and stabbed a mini carrot before putting it in his mouth.

Soon everyone was finished eating and Dumbledore got his feet. "So!" said Dumbledore, smiling at everyone in the Hall. "Now that we are all fed and watered. I must ask for your undivided attention as I tell you all a few notices."

Dumbledore named the objects that were forbidden from the grounds of Hogwarts as asked by Mr. Filch, the caretaker of Hogwarts, and that the Forbidden forest was out-of-bounds to all students and that Hogsmeade was banned for everyone under third year.

"It it also my painful duty to inform you all that the Quidditch Cup will not be taking place this year."

"_What?" _ Harry gasped. He looked around to all his fellow Gryffindor team members and saw that they were appalled by the news of no Quidditch.

"This," Dumbledore continued. "Is because of an event that will be starting this October that will continue throughout the entire school year, taking up most of the teachers' time and energy—but I am sure you will all enjoy it immensely. I have great pleasure in announcing that this year at Hogwarts—"

* * *

Elizabeth—or Effy—watched Dumbledore as he spoke. She heard Draco Malfoy whisper things behind her about how Dumbledore was not fit to run the school and so on to his two friends, Crabbe and Goyle.

She knew that some guys were staring at her. How could they not? She was like her brother, with the gorgeous brown hair, freckles across the noses, and the eyes. The blue eyes. Well, Tony had brown eyes but whatever they still pulled everything together.

Then there was a deafening rumble of thunder that broke Effy out of her thoughts. Everyone turned to the Great Hall doors that had flung open.

A man stood in the doorway, leaning against a long wooden staff. The man lowered his hood, shook out a long mane of grilled dark grey hair then began to walk towards the teachers table. Everyone in Great Hall gaped, except Effy, as they got a glimpse of his face.

It looked as though it was carved out of weathered wood by someone who didn't have any skill on how to make a human face. The mouth was a diagonal gash and his nose was missing a large chunk. And the man's eye, his left one, was small, dark and beady and the other was large, round as a coin, and electric blue. The eye was enchanted, moving from side to side, up and down without blinking.

"It's Mad-Eye Moody." Someone whispered. "The ex-Auror."

The Hall erupted into whispers about the Mad-Eye Moody as he reached the teachers table. "What's the big deal about him?" asked Effy.

"He's one of the best Aurors out there, Elizabeth." Said Draco.

"Don't call me Elizabeth. It's Effy to you—_all _of you." She said. The Slytherins around her nodded. "Good."

"And to think," Draco ranted, as Dumbledore announced Mad-Eye was going to be teaching us. "He'd let him, Mad-Eye Moody, teach us. I hear he's mental. Wait until my father hears about this."

Irritated, Effy turned to him. "Draco," She said.

"Yes, _Effy?"_ He said a twinkle in his eye.

"Do me a favour, and just shut up for the rest of the feast, OK?" She said giving him the infamous Stonem smile then turned back to Dumbledore.

"Were was I? Oh yes, the Triwizard Tournament!" He said giving a smile again. "We will be hosting the Triwizard Tournament!"

Effy soon lost interest as he began to talk about the history of this Tournament. "This year," Dumbledore said. "For safety we have decided that those over the age of seventeen are the ones that can compete in this Tournament."

Everyone burst into shouts of 'Rubbish' or 'No way's. Effy let out a sigh, and she crossed her arms over her chest. Hogwarts seemed a tad boring for her at the moment like Beauxbatons.

"Silence!" Dumbledore yelled, and the cries of protest faded. "Now, like I have said before, Durmstrang and Beauxbatons, Ms. Stonem's old school, will be joining us. I would like you to treat them nicely as the purpose of this tournament is to make friends from outside of our school. And now, I wish you all a good night's sleep."

Everyone began to pour out of the Great Hall, Slytherins surrounding Effy; she was like a new toy for them.

"Could you all, just back off." Said Effy.

Everyone obeyed and took a few steps back from her. Effy then saw him, Harry Potter, and his red headed and bushy haired friends next to him. The red head and Harry were staring at her just like everyone else had when she had walked into the Great Hall.

Effy smirked; she pushed aside Crabbe and Goyle and walked over to Harry Potter and his friend. "Hello." She said.

The two boys stared blankly at her, as she smiled at them. "Effy, why are you talking to Potter and Weasel?" asked Draco from behind her.

Effy rolled her eyes and turned around. Draco may be cute, but he could be very irritable. There was a strong reason why Effy never liked anyone, except her brother, Tony; it was because of people like Draco. Constantly irritating you.

"Maybe because I want too, Draco. Now run along with your little—actually not so little friends to our common room. You've told me where it is and how to get in. I'll be fine." She said then turned back around.

Behind her, she heard Draco mutter things under his breath as footsteps from the pack of Slytherins that were once surrounding her began to fade away as they went further into the castle.

"Malfoy called you Effy, I thought your name was Elizabeth." Said the red head.

"Oh, well Effy is my nickname. It's a shit name but it's short for Elizabeth which is even worse." Said Effy, shrugging. "You boys know my name, and I know yours," She looked at Harry. "But I don't know you..." She turned to Ron. "Or you." She looked in between the boys to see the bushy haired girl.

"I'm Hermione Granger." Said the girl.

"I-I-I'm Ron Weasley." Said the red head.

"Cool." Said Effy, nodding her heads.

"Why did you transfer to Hogwarts?" asked Hermione.

Effy let out a chuckle. "I didn't, actually. They're just saying that crap, so I can come off nice for my first day here. I actually got expelled from Beauxbatons."

"Why?" asked Harry.

"We were having this party where we have these woods, outside the grounds. Like the Forest you've got here, but less...gloomy. Anyways, my friends and I snuck out to have the party, we got Firewhiskey and Butterbeer and all that. So I found some shrooms—"

"Wait—what are shrooms?" asked Ron, furrowing his brow.

"It's mushrooms, that can make you go high. Drugs, you know. But anyways, we all had our shrooms and I started tripping, and my friend, Katie, well we got in a fight and since I was tripping I hit her in the head with a rock because she was pulling my hair and stuff. The rest brings me here."

The three Gryffindors looked at Effy in shock as that smirk was still on her face. Effy didn't hide anything from anyone, unless she wanted too and she was good at it too.

"You're underage! You shouldn't have been drinking, or—or doing any of those things." Said Hermione, appalled.

"I've been doing it for a long time, Hermione. Maybe I'll even do it here, who knows."

"But—but Dumbledore he'd never allow it."

"Who said Dumbledore has to know?"

"You can't do that! It's against the rules!" She protested.

Effy let out a little laugh. "_I'm_ Effy Stonem. There are no rules for me." She said then walked off.

* * *

Harry, Ron, and Hermione walked to the common room a few moments after Effy had left. Effy was different, from the other Slytherins so far. She was mysterious, reckless; she was different from _everyone_ in Hogwarts for a fact.

And Harry liked it.

"To think what she's going to do to our school!" cried Hermione as they entered the portrait hole.

"Maybe she was kidding." Said Ron.

"She didn't seem like it and the way she showcases herself, it's like she better than us already. She's like Malfoy except he is much more irritable than her."

Harry plopped down onto the couch, Neville sitting in the chair beside him. "Who are they talking about?" whispered Neville.

"The new girl, Elizabeth Stonem." Harry answered.

Neville nodded. "Oh, she sure is pretty."

Harry nodded. "Yeah she is."

"Well, I don't like her." Said Hermione, crossing her arms over her chest and falling onto the couch next to Harry.

"That's only because she's _different_, Hermione." Ron told her. "She's different from all of us. She curses and doesn't care who hears her, she drinks and does drugs at only fourteen. You don't like her because she doesn't follow the rules. Everyone else seems to like her."

Hermione scoffed. "That's only because they think she's beautiful. She's only fourteen, Ronald, much too young to be doing any of those things." Shaking her head in disapproval.

"But if she was having that party at Beauxbatons then some other people at the school must be doing the stuff she was doing as well." Harry piped up. "And they're coming here. To _our_ school."

Hermione shook her head. "Dumbledore said only the seventeen year old ones were coming."

Ron sat on the arm of the couch. "We'll have to wait and see who Effy Stonem truly is before we start to fully judge her."

* * *

A/N: I hope you guys enjoyed it. It was between Ravenclaw and Slytherin to sort Effy into. Let me just give you guys a quick little explanation of why, so I don't get people saying I put her in the wrong House. This little explanation was given from narcissas. tumblr. com

_Effy does possess certain Ravenclaw traits that make themselves evident throughout the series, particularly during S1 and S2. She is highly analytical and observant of the world around her, resulting in her trademark cynicism about life and love in general._

_More than anything else, however, I believe power is central and _vital_ to Effy's character. At the start of S3 and her turn as a principal character, we see she is charming, enigmatic, and ruthlessly aware of her hold on others, quite like her older brother, Tony. When Freddie expresses his desire to be with her, Effy recognizes in herself the desire to reciprocate the affection, but buries it away and turns to Cook instead at lesser emotional cost. When Katie later challenges Effy's position as queen bee at the Gobblers' End party, she scrambles, to disastrous effect, to regain her footing. When she fails, she runs away, rather than face further fall from grace._

_Furthermore, the most sense I can make out of Effy's "love made me go mad" storyline in S4 is that, where she had once been self-reliant, as snakes often are, love managed to make her feel weak, soft, open and raw. Love left her completely and utterly powerless, something a true Slytherin would quite naturally resent._


	2. Want to Get to Know You

A/N: Second chapter is finally up. I hope for those who have read the first chapter will enjoy this one.

Merry belated Christmas

* * *

Chapter 2 : Want to Get to Know You

* * *

The halls were empty as Effy walked through them; her black leather messenger bag with different buttons from Muggle bands or quotes she liked on them was slung over her shoulder. Class had started about 10 or 15 minutes ago; she was late on her first day at Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry, her father would just love to hear that. It's not that she cared that she was late on her first day at school, she cared that she was late for _Mad-Eye Moody's_ class.

From what she heard the girls gossip about in her dorm, he was a very strict man, and that it was his first time teaching. He was also supposedly not too fond of children. But during breakfast she overheard the Gryffindors say how excited they were.

Effy rounded another hall before she finally made it to the class. Carefully she opened the door, trying hard for it not to make a sound but it made a loud 'creak' as she slid through the little crack she had made.

Moody was writing on the board as heads swerved to Effy. "Elizabeth Stonem!" He yelled as turned on his heel. "You're late, care to explain, Elizabeth?" She asked, looking at her.

"I got lost." Effy said shrugging as she walked down the middle of the class, eyes watching her. "And it's _Effy, _not Elizabeth."

"Well then, _Effy,_" Mad-Eye Moody said mocking her tone and sending her a glare. "I suggest you get a guide or a map. Now take a seat next to...Mr. Potter since he's sitting beside no one."

Effy sighed and walked over to where Harry sat in the middle of the room. She slid into the chair and took out her things.

"Now what were we talking about again?"

"You were talking about the Unforgivable Curses, sir." piped up Hermione Granger.

"Ah! Yes! Thank you Ms. Granger." Mad-Eye said.

Effy looked at Harry who was looking down. She followed his gaze to see he was looking at their hands which were right next to each other.

She knew that Harry and his friend, Ron, had a thing for Effy. Everyone did, even at Beauxbatons. But at Beauxbatons, she was known as _Tony's little sister. _

Slowly Effy raised her hand and put her hand over his. (A/N: Just like in Skins Series 3 Episode 5 – 'Freddie') Harry jumped as he felt her skin touch his, causing Effy to smile as she stared straight forward watching Mad-Eye write words on the board.

* * *

Ron watched Effy from the corner of his eye. Her hair was in a nice braid, and she didn't bother to wear her Hogwarts robes, she instead wore a white t-shirt with a Slytherin pin, pinned on it and she didn't have on skirts like the rest of the girls but jeans, which were not allowed at Hogwarts.

Then he saw her slowly lift her hand and place it over Harry's. He glared the hands as he watched her fingers stroke his skin. He couldn't help it but he fancied her, he fancied Effy Stonem even though he hardly knew her.

"Mr. Weasley!" Mad-Eye said turning around and walking up to Ron.

_Bloody Hell...what does he want? _He thought.

"Name an Unforgiveable Curse. One, right now!" Mad-Eye commanded.

Ron swallowed the lump that was in his throat. "M-my dad, he told me one—only one. The Imperius curse."

Mad-Eye slammed the side of Ron's desk causing everyone to jump before he turned around and walked back to the chalkboard to wrote down '_IMPERIUS CURSE' _under _'UNFORGIVABLE CURSES – 3 CURSES IN TOTAL'_

"The Imperius Curse, yes, that gave the Ministry a hard time. Your dad would surely know about hat." Moody opened his desk drawer and took out a jar. Inside were three large, black spiders scuttling around inside.

Ron squirmed uncomfortably in his seat. He was terrified of spiders.

* * *

Effy's hand on was still on top of Harry's as Moody took out the jar of spiders. Some girls gasped or squeaked at the sight of it.

Lightly her fingers were stroking Harry's soft skin. His eyes were trained on their hands as Effy kept her focus on Mad-Eye.

Mad-Eye then reached into the jar and scooped up one of the spiders onto his palm. When his hand was out, he kept his eyes trained on it as he took out his wand. "_Imperio_." He muttered.

Effy watched intrigued by the Mind Controlling Curse, as Mad-Eye moved his wand back and forth which was the same movements as the spider who was swinging back and forth on a thin silk thread. Then his wand began to move rapidly around in the air, be was unmistakably making the spider tap dance.

The class, including Effy, laughed as the spider danced but it seemed by the look of Mad-Eye Moody's face he was not looking for laughter. "Find this funny do ya?" He asked the class, halting the movements of the spider. The laughter stopped instantly.

"Total control." Moody said quietly. The spider had balled itself up and began to roll over and over. "I could make it jump out of the window, drown itself, and throw itself down one of your throats..."

Ron gave a shudder.

"The Imperius Curse, it can be fought and I'll be teaching you how but it takes real strength of character and CONSTANT VIGALINCE!" He barked causing everyone to jump, Effy had stopped her stroking of Harry's hand and grasped it tightly.

Mad-Eye picked up the somersaulting spider and threw it back into the jar. "Two more, curses left. Anyone want to name another?" He asked, looking around the class his magical eye swirling around.

Hermione's hand flew into the air as well as another boy's. Everyone seemed to have a surprised to look at the boy. "Who's he?" Effy whispered to Harry.

"Neville Longbottom." He answered.

Effy nodded. Neville looked surprised at his own action of raising his hand. He didn't exactly look like one of those boys who would throw themselves in front of a bullet for someone; instead he looked like that little Ravenclaw at Sorting, Jeremy Jones. Nervous looking.

"Yes?" Mad-Eye Moody's magical landed on him.

"There's one—the Cruciatus Curse." Neville said in a small distinct voice.

Moody was looking very intently at Neville, with both eyes. "Your name's Longbottom?" he said, his magical eye swooping down to check the register.

Neville nodded nervously but Moody was no longer paying attention to him. His back was to the class as he wrote down '_CRUCIATUS CURSE'_ under the other Curse.

"The Cruciatus Curse," said Mad-Eye fishing out another spider. "Needs to be a bit bigger for you to get the idea." He pointed his wand at the spider, "_Engorgio!"_

The spider swelled up bigger than any spider Effy had ever seen. She saw Ron push his chair backwards, trying to get as far away from Moody as possible.

Moody raised his wand again and muttered: "_Crucio!"_

At once, the spider's legs bent in upon its body; it rolled over and began to twitch horribly from side to side. Effy was sure that if that spider was given a voice it'd be screaming in agonizing pain. Feeling the pain spread through its body causing everything to hurt.

"Stop it!" said Hermione shrilly.

Effy turned her head to look at the bushy haired girl. Hermione wasn't looking at the spider in Moody's hand like the rest of the class but at Neville. His hands were clenched upon the desk, his knuckles white and his eyes wide and horrified.

Moody raised his wand. The spider's legs relaxed but it still twitched. "_Reducio." _He muttered and the spider shrank back to normal size. "Pain," He said softly. "You don't need thumbscrews or knives to torture someone if you can perform the Cruciatus Curse."

"Right...anyone know the last curse?" He asked.

Effy raised her hand, the one that was holding Harry's, and Hermione raised her hand as well. Effy took a quick scan of the room and saw that people were wondering what would happen to the final spider.

"Yes, Ms Stonem?" He said and Hermione's hand fell from the sky. "What is the last curse?"

"_Avada Kedavra."_ Effy said. "The Killing Curse."

Several people looked uneasy around her. Including Harry and Ron.

"Ah, yes, the last and worst, _Avada Kedavra..._the Killing Curse. Very good Ms. Stonem." He reached into the jar once more and took the last spider and placed it on his desk.

Mad-Eye raised his wand; everyone had uneasy faces as now they knew what was going to happen now. "_Avada Kedavra!" _He roared.

There was a flash of blinding green light and instantaneously the spider rolled over onto its back, unmarked, but unmistakably dead. Several of the girls let out stifled cries and Ron fell backwards as the dead spider skidded towards him.

"Not nice," He said calmly. "Not pleasant. There is no counter-curse. There is no blocking it. Only one known person has ever survived it and he is sitting right in front of me."

Effy looked over at Harry who's face had turned a bit red as Mad-Eye (with both eyes) looked into Harry's own emerald green ones.

Harry stared back, but his eyes were distant, he was deep in thought. Mad-Eye looked into those distant eyes before turned around and walking away back to his desk. "Avada Kedavra's the curse that needs a powerful bit of magic behind it—now get your wands out and point them at me and say the words, I doubt I'd get so much as a nose-bleed. But that doesn't matter; I'm not here to teach you how to do it."

"Now if there is no counter-curse, why am I showing you this?_ Because you've got to know._ You've got to appreciate what the worst is. You don't want to find yourself in a situation where you're facing it. CONSTANT VIGILANCE!" He roared and the class jumped again.

"Now those three curse—the Imperius Curse, the Cruciatus Curse, and the Killing Curse, they are called the Unforgivable Curses. Does anyone know why?" He asked.

Effy raised her hand. "Yes, Ms Stonem?" He asked her.

"They are called the Unforgivable Curses because if you perform either one of them and get caught it's a one way ticket to Azkaban."

"Yes, very good. 10 points for Slytherin. Now take the rest of the time copying this down..."

After class, people were whispering about the Curses and how the spider twitched. Effy adjusted her messenger bag as she walked down the hall.

"Effy!" She heard someone yell behind her. Effy turned around to see Ron walking up to her. "Effy...hi." He said.

The ends of Effy's lips twitched. "Hi, Ron." She said. There was no Harry or Hermione behind him, he was alone. "Where are your friends?" She asked.

"Talking to Neville. I was wondering if I could walk you to your next class." He said nervously.

Effy couldn't help but smile this time. "I was also thinking that since you're new that we should probably get to know more about each other." He said to her, they had stopped at the side of the hall. Effy was holding the strap of her messenger bag.

"Why?" She asked, tilting her head to the left slightly.

Ron stared at her, he wasn't expecting that answer. His eyes were a little wide and he was biting his lip. "Well, uhm," He said after a moment. "I don't know. Yesterday, I definitely saw you look at me, _twice _even. "

"I look at lots of people, that doesn't mean I want to get to know them." She began to walk away, leaving Ron standing there filled with disappointment until she turned around. "Do you want me to want to get to know you?"

"I—I wouldn't mind." He said.

Effy smirked. "But the thing is Ron; Harry wants to get to know me too." She said then disappeared into the crowd of students who were bustling their way to get to their next class.


	3. Here Comes the Rest of Them

A/N: Sorry for the long wait, I've been busy with projects. In this Tony is seventeen, even though I think he is about one year or two years older than Effy. But you know, my story.

* * *

Chapter 3: Here Comes the Rest of Them

* * *

"_There!" _A sixth year student yelled, pointing over the forest.

Heads moved left, right, up and down searching for any sign of Beauxbatons arrival. Effy even looked around as well, she was curious on how old school would arrive would arrive to Hogwarts.

Then something large, larger than a broomstick or a hundred broomsticks was hurtling across the deep blue sky towards the castle, getting larger each time.

"It's a dragon!" She heard someone shout from in front of her. It belonged to a one of the smaller kids. They sounded as if they were losing their head completely.

"Don't be stupid…it's a flying house!" said another, not too far from her, probably a Gryffindor since they were closer to her than any of the other Houses.

Though whoever had suggested the flying house, their guess was the closest as a gigantic black shape skimmed over the treetops of the Forbidden Forest and the lights shining from the castle windows hit it, they saw a gigantic, powder-blue, horse-drawn carriage, the size of a large house, soaring toward them, pulled through the air by a dozen winged horses, all palominos, and each the size of an elephant.

The front three rows of students drew backward as the carriage hurtled ever lower, coming in to land at tremendous speed, then, with an almighty crash that made Neville Longbottom jump backwards onto a Slytherin fifth year's foot, who glared at Neville as he stammered a apology.

The horses' hooves, larger than dinner plates, hit the ground. A second later, the carriage landed too, bouncing upon its vast wheels, while the golden horses tossed their enormous heads and rolled large, fiery red eyes.

Effy was just had time to see that the door of the carriage bore a coat of arms she was all too familiar with. Two crossed golden wands, each emitting three stars before the door opened. The Beauxbatons coat of arms.

A boy in pale blue robes jumped down from the carriage, bent forward, fumbled for a moment with something on the carriage floor, and unfolded a set of golden steps. He sprang back respectfully. Then Effy saw a shining, high-heeled black shoe emerging from the inside of the carriage, a show the size of a child's sled, followed almost immediately by the largest woman she'd ever met in her life. A few people gasped as they got a glimpse of the woman. The woman who expelled Effy, it was her old Headmistress, Madame Maxime, who she was not all too fond of.

Madame Maxime stepped into the light flooding from the entrance hall; she revealed to the students her olive-skinned face. Her large, black, liquid-looking eyes and a rather beaky nose, which her and her friends used to make fun of. Her hair was drawn back in a shining knob at the base of her neck. She was dressed from head to foot in black satin, and many magnificent opals gleamed at her throat and on her thick fingers.

Dumbledore started to clap; the students, following his lead, broke into applause too (except Effy, who only clapped lightly, her hands barely touching or making a sound), many of the students were standing on their tiptoes, to get a better look at the woman.

Her face relaxed into a gracious smile and she walked forward toward Dumbledore, extending a glittering hand. Dumbledore, though tall himself, had barely to bend to kiss it.

"My dear Madame Maxime," he said. "Welcome to Hogwarts."

"Dumbly-dorr," said Madame Maxime said in her deep voice. "I 'ope I find you well?"

"In excellent form, thank you," said Dumbledore.

"My pupils," said Madame Maxime, waving one of her enormous hands carelessly behind her.

Effy's blue eyes shifted from her old Headmistress and new Headmaster to the dozen boys and girls, who had emerged from the carriage and were now standing behind Madame Maxime. They were shivering, which was unsurprising, given that their robes were made of fine silk, and none of them were wearing cloaks. A few had wrapped scarves and shawls around their heads.

She could see some of her old friends among them. A blonde girl in pigtails with a pink clip in her hair, and glittery make-up which was her best friend Pandora, another blonde girl—though her hair was the colour of Draco's hair and it was much shorter than Pandora's—which was Naomi, two redheads which were the twins, one had shoulder length hair and the other with more brown red hair than her twin and her hair was a tad longer as well —Emily and Katie— who she wasn't that fond of...actually she wasn't even fond of Katie. Then there was a boy, with brown hair, brown eyes and wasn't shivering in the cold but looking as if he was bored, it was Tony, her brother.

A smile broke out onto Effy's face as she caught sight of her brother. She was happy he was here, she had missed seeing him. She had the urge to run out of the line of Slytherins and go over to hug him. Which was very out of character for Effy Stonem, but Tony...he was the only person who understood her. The only person she actually cared about and loved.

"_The lake_!" yelled a boy from Gryffindor, pointing down at it as she snapped back into reality. "Look at the lake!"

From their position at the top of the lawns overlooking the grounds, they had clear view of the smooth black surface of the water, except that the surface was suddenly not smooth at all. Some disturbance was taking place deep in the center; great bubbles were forming on the surface, waves were now washing over the muddy banks. And then, out in the very middle of the lake, a whirlpool appeared, as if a giant plug had just been pulled out of the lake's floor…

What seemed to be a long, black pole began to rise slowly out of the heart of the whirlpool… and then Effy saw the rigging…

Slowly, magnificently, a ship rose out of the water, gleaming in the moonlight. It had a strangely skeletal look about it, as though it were a resurrected wreck, and the dim, misty lights shimmering at its portholes looked like ghostly eyes. Finally, with a great sloshing noise, the ship emerged entirely, bobbing on the turbulent water, and began to glide toward the bank. A few moments later, they heard the splash of an anchor being thrown down in the shallows, and the thud of a plank being lowered onto the bank.

People were disembarking. They could see their silhouettes passing the lights in the ship's portholes. All of them, Effy noticed, seemed to be built along the lines of Crabbe and Goyle, hopefully not as dumb as the the two. But as they drew nearer, walking up the lawns into the light streaming from the entrance hall, he saw that their bulk was really due to the fact that they were wearing cloaks of some kind of shaggy, matted fur. But the man who was leading them up to the castle was wearing furs of a different sort: sleek and silver, like his hair.

"Dumbledore!" he called heartily as he walked up the slope. "How are you, my dear fellow, how are you?"

"Blooming, thank you, Professor Karkaroff," Dumbledore replied.

Karkaroff had a fruity, unctuous voice. When he stepped into the light pouring from the front of the castle they saw that he was tall and thin like Dumbledore, but his white hair was short, and his goatee did not entirely hide his rather weak chin. When he reached Dumbledore, he shook hands with both of his own.

"Dear old Hogwarts," he said, looking up at the castle and smiling. His teeth were rather yellow, and Effy could see that his smile did not extend to his eyes, which remained cold and shrewd. "How good it is to be here, how good… Viktor, come along, into the warmth… you don't mind, Dumbledore? Viktor has a slight head cold…"

Karkaroff beckoned forward one of his students. As the boy passed, Effy only caught a glimpse of a prominent curved nose and thick black eyebrows.

"Harry, it's Krum! I don't believe it!" She heard Ron say from in front of her, in a stunned voice, as the Hogwarts student filed back up the steps behind the party from Durmstrang. "Krum, Harry! Viktor Krum!"

"For heaven's sake, Ron, he's only a Quidditch player," said Hermione. Effy could practically hear her roll her eyes at him.

"Only a Quidditch player?" Ron said, astounded at what Hermione seemed to have said. "Hermione, he's one of the best Seekers in the world! I had no idea that he was still in school!"

As they recrossed the entrance hall with the rest of the Hogwarts students heading for the Great Hall, Effy saw a boy, Gryffindor, jumping up and down on the soles of his feet to get a better look at the back of Krum's head. Several sixth-year girls were frantically searching their pockets as they walked. She honestly didn't see the big deal of this. But that was partially because she was not a huge Quidditch fan.

The three schools headed into the school and into the Great Hall, Effy near the front of the Hogwarts pack; behind her she could hear Draco whispering something. They walked over to the Slytherin table and sat down.

Effy could see that Ron took care to sit on the side facing the doorway, because Krum and his fellow Durmstrang students were still gathered around it, apparently unsure about where they should sit. In the group of Durmstrang students, three of them caught her eye. One of them had jet-black hair and a tanned skin tone, Italian most likely, another was a boy with short brown hair, he was laughing about something, one of his hands on the jet-black haired boys shoulder, and the last boy had curly brown hair and seemed to have a nervous, awkward sense to him.

The students from Beauxbatons had chosen seats at the Ravenclaw table. They were looking around the Great Hall with glum expressions on their faces. Three of them were still clutching scarves and shawls around their heads.

"Hi, Eff." Said someone, from behind her.

Effy turned around, to see her friends…and Katie, who was glaring at Effy, standing there smiling. "Hi." She said, smiling a bit. "Aren't you going to sit at the Ravenclaw table with the rest of the school?" She asked them.

"No, little sis." Said Tony, shaking his head. "We're sitting here, with you." He looked up. "And with Viktor Krum as well."

Effy turned around again, to see that the students from Durmstrang were seated a few people down from her. She met the eye of the boy who was laughing earlier and he smiled at her. Effy rolled her eyes and turned to see that Pandora and Tony were on either side of her, and Naomi, Katie, and Emily on Pandora's side as well.

"So this is the school, you go to now?" asked Pandora. "It looks brill! Floating candles, a cool ceiling! How _brill._"

"Uh-huh." Said Effy.

Panda then began to ramble on about everything that had happened at Beauxbatons without her. Nothing she said really caught Effy's attention so she just nodded her head and pretended to listen. She could feel eyes on her, from the back and the front of her. Most likely belonging to Harry, Ron, and the boys from Durmstrang.

"So, Effy how is this school?" Naomi asked, leaning forward to look at Effy.

Effy shrugged. "Not that interesting. Everyone here follows the rules, mainly. No drugs, alcohol, nothing worthwhile for me, except..." Effy looked over her shoulder, to meet the eyes of Harry and Ron for moment before turning back.

"I see." Said Naomi, nodding her head. "And how are you coping with this all? I mean, this school is different from Beauxbatons—well, the way we go along with everything at Beauxbatons."

"I'm doing fine. Everyone here seems to be rather, nice, annoying but nice." She said.

Naomi nodded her head and leaned back, as she began to talk with Emily. Effy as she watched Naomi, lean back caught Katie glaring at her. She obviously hadn't gotten past being hit with a rock, which was understandable, but it had been a while since it had happened.

When all the students had entered the Hall and settled down at their House tables, the staff entered, filing up to the top table and taking their seats. Last in line were Professor Dumbledore, Professor Karkaroff, and Madame Maxime. When their headmistress appeared, the pupils from Beauxbatons leapt to their feet (reluctantly, her friends did the same too). A few of the Hogwarts students laughed. The Beauxbatons party appeared unembarrassed, however, and did not resume their seats until Madame Maxime had sat down on Dumbledore's left-hand side. Dumbledore remained standing, and a silence fell over the Great Hall.

"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, ghosts and – most particularly – guests," said Dumbledore, beaming around at the foreign students. "I have great pleasure in welcoming you all to Hogwarts. I hope and trust that your stay here will be both comfortable and enjoyable. The tournament will be officially opened at the end of the feast. I now invite you all to eat, drink and make yourselves at home!"

As food suddenly appeared on the table, Pandora smiled. "Wow, you have appearing food here to, Eff! This is much better than having House Elves serve us food."

Effy nodded, smiling a bit. She missed Panda; she was one of her only true friends.

"Why are you guys here?" asked Effy, as she put a chicken breast onto her plate. "This tournament is only for seventeen year olds, and we're all fourteen all except Tony." She turned to her left, and flashed her brother a smile.

"We wanted to see you." Said Emily, quietly and sweetly. "And since, Madame Maxime let Gabrielle, Fleur's sister come, we told her we wanted to tag along too."

Katie scoffed. "I only came because I'd have no one interesting back at Beauxbatons."

Effy rolled her eyes, as she drank from her goblet filled of Butterbeer. "Are you entering Tony?" She asked, setting her goblet down, and putting a fry into her mouth.

Tony smiled at her. "Of course, I am." He said. "You think I wouldn't? You know me, Effy."

* * *

Harry ate his dinner, his eyes going from Effy, to her friends, to his friends, then back to Effy. She kept talking to this one guy. He looked older than her, brown hair, brown eyes. Maybe it was Effy's boyfriend from Beauxbatons.

"Can you actually believe it, Harry? Viktor Krum is here!" exclaimed Ron, breaking Harry out of his thoughts. "Too bad he's sitting over there, with Malfoy. Oh, look at him with that smug look on his face."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Can you stop talking about him, Ron?" She asked, irritated. "He's all you've been talking about and it's annoying."

This time, Ron rolled his own eyes at Hermione but didn't answer her back. He was looking at Harry, following his gaze. Before, Ron could figure out what Harry was looking at, he dropped his gaze from Effy.

"Who were you staring at?" asked Ron, leaning forward a bit. "Were you staring at Malfoy and his stupid smug look to see for yourself? Krum?" Harry shook his head. "Then who?" Ron turned around. "Effy?" He guessed.

Hermione's head shot up at the name. "Why would you stare at her?" She asked.

"No reason, I just got lost in my thoughts and ended up staring at her." He shrugged.

Hermione and Ron both opened their mouths to say something to him, but Dumbledore had stood, causing them to shut their mouths. There was a pleasant sort of tension that seemed to fill the Hall now. Harry felt a slight thrill of excitement, wondering what was coming.

"The moment has come," said Dumbledore, smiling around at the sea of upturned faces. "The Triwizard Tournament is about to start. I would like to say a few words of explanation before we bring in the casket."

"The what?" Harry muttered.

Ron shrugged, not looking at him.

"…Just to clarify the procedure that we will be following this year. But first, let me introduce, for those who do not know them, Mr. Bartemius Crouch, Head of the Department of International Cooperation and Mr. Ludo Bagman, Head of the Department of Magical Games and Sports." After a pause, Dumbledore continued. "Mr. Bagman and Mr. Crouch have worked tirelessly over the last few months on the arrangements for the Triwizard tournament, and they will be joining myself, Professor Karkaroff, and Madame Maxime on the panel that will judge the Champions' efforts." Dumbledore turned his body. "The casket, then, if you please, Mr. Filch."

Harry turned his head and watched as Mr. Filch slowly brought in the casket. Then, Dumbledore lowered his hand and the sides seemed to disappear, revealing a magnificent goblet that was several feet tall and seemed to glow brilliantly.

"The instructions for the tasks the champions will face this year have already been examined by Mr. Crouch and Mr. Bagman," said Dumbledore. "And they have made the necessary arrangements for each challenge. There will be four tasks, spaced throughout the school year, and they will test the champions in many different ways… their magical prowess, their daring, their powers of deduction, and of course, their ability to cope with danger."

There were several murmurs of excitement at this.

Dumbledore continued. "As you know, three champions will compete in this tournament, one from each of the participating schools. They will be marked on how well they perform each of the Tournament tasks and the champion with the highest total after the fourth task will win the Triwizard Cup. The champions will be chosen by an impartial selector: the Goblet of Fire!"

The huge goblet blazed brilliantly.

"Anybody wishing to submit themselves as champion must write their name and school clearly upon a slip of parchment and drop it into the goblet. Aspiring champions have twenty-four hours in which to put their names forward. Tomorrow night, Halloween, the goblet will return the names of the four it has judged most worthy to represent their schools. The goblet will be placed in the entrance hall tonight, where it will be freely accessible to all those wishing to compete. To ensure that no underage student yields to temptation, I will be drawing an Age Line around the Goblet of Fire once it has been placed in the entrance hall. Nobody under the age of seventeen will be able to cross the line. Finally, I wish to impress upon any of you wishing to compete that this tournament is not to be entered lightly. Once a Champion has been selected by the Goblet of Fire, he or she is obliged to see the tournament through to the end. The placing of your name in the goblet constitutes a binding, magical contract. There can be no change of heart once you have become a champion. Please be very sure, therefore, that you are wholeheartedly prepared to play before you drop your name into the goblet. Now, I think it is time for bed. Good night to you all."

* * *

Everyone began to pour out of the Great Hall, some looking back to see the Goblet of Fire one more time. The Slytherins, were busy talking to Viktor Krum, he was their shiny new toy to play with. That's what happened with Slytherins, Effy had thought since she had arrived, if something better, newer arrives they'll attack it until they get bored.

"Well," said Tony, putting a hand on his sister's shoulder. "We must bid you goodbye and goodnight. Seeing as we must go to the Ravenclaw—that's what you call them right? OK. Yeah, we're going to the Ravenclaw's now. See ya, Eff."

Effy nodded, and gave her brother a hug. "See ya, Tony." She said quietly.

Pandora, Naomi, and Emily also said goodnight to Effy before walking off to try and catch up with the other students from Beauxbatons.

When out of sight, Effy walked off into the crowd of Slytherins. Most of them, not surprisingly, were huddled around the Durmstrang students.

"Oi!" someone shouted, from behind her. Effy turned around to see those three Durmstrang boys that stood out to her walking over to her. "Hi." Said brown haired one, he was grinning at Effy.

Effy looked at them for a moment. "Hi..."

"What's your name?"

"Effy Stonem."She answered, tilting her head to the side a bit, like a curious child. "And you three are?"

The jet-black haired boy, on the right of the grinning one, raised his hand up a bit. "I'm Freddie. Freddie McClair." He said giving Effy a little smile.

"JJ. Well, actually my name is Jeremiah Jones, but my friends call me JJ because it's shorter and like saying that much more then Jeremiah," The one on the left of the brown haired, grinning boy. JJ, looked rather nervous around Effy, but he seemed that way when he came into the Great Hall as well.

Effy nodded her head then turned to the one in the middle. "And you?"

The boy's grin widened. "James Cook." He said extending a hand to her. "It's nice to meet you Effy Stonem."

* * *

Back at the common room, Ron was sitting in the middle of the Gryffindor couch while Hermione and Harry talked. His mind was on other things.

One, Viktor Krum was at _his _school. Two, this TwiWizard Tournament seemed rather cool. And three, the way Harry was looking at Effy, it was…strange.

Did Harry fancy Effy like he did himself? Should he ask Harry if he did?

He looked at Hermione, who was talking to Harry about this Tournament. He looked to Harry to see him nodding at Hermione, not looking too interested in it.

_No, I'll ask him later._ He thought. _Not now, later._

"You OK, Ron?" asked Hermione, breaking her conversation with Harry. "You are awfully quiet."

Ron nodded. "I'm fine, just thinking about things." _ Like my best mate fancying a girl that I fancy_, he thought but didn't dare say it aloud.

* * *

A/N: Did you guys enjoy it? I finally added Generation2 characters, just like a said!

Please tell me your thoughts.


	4. The Goblet Chooses the Champions

Chapter 4: the Goblet Chooses the Champions

* * *

"Ooh, it's them, look!" Hermione whispered.

The Durmstrang party was walking up toward the castle from the lake. Viktor Krum was walking side by side with Karkaroff, and the other Durmstrang students were straggling along behind them. Ron watched Krum excitedly, but Krum didn't look happy, or even smile. He just walked his eyes as cold as ice. Most of the Durmstrang party was like that, except a boy in the back laughing loudly with his arms around two other students. The ones that carried the weight of the boy's shoulder, were looking uncomfortable, that Karkaroff would turn around any second and yell at them.

When they entered the candlelit Great Hall it was almost full. The Goblet of Fire had been moved; it was now standing in front of Dumbledore's empty chair. Fred and George—clean shaven again—seemed to have taken their disappointment fairly well.

"Hope it's Angelina," said Fred said to Hermione and Ron.

"So do I!" said Hermione breathlessly. "Well, we'll soon know!"

The Halloween feast seemed to take much longer than usual. Perhaps it was because it was their second feast in two days. Ron thoroughly enjoyed it, all the food, how could he not? But he did have a suspicion that the cause for the length in time was due to the tension in the air. No one cared about the feast today, not even Ron even thought he usually did enjoy the feasts at Hogwarts. Instead, everyone seemed to rush through the feast as fast as possible, everyone feeling more excitement at the anticipation of waiting for the Goblet of Fire to choose the three Champions.

Throughout the feast, Ron looked up at Harry at times to see him glancing over his shoulder towards the Slytherin table. _Obviously staring at Effy,_ he thought, _or maybe someone else, like Krum._ Ron followed Harry's gaze and turned around, he saw that Effy was looking at Harry with the same look but it soon disappeared when a boy from Durmstrang tapped her shoulder.

Ron quickly looked at Harry to see he had also dropped his gaze, then he turned back to Effy to see she was smiling a bit as the Durmstrang boy—the one who was laughing—whispered something in her ear. Ron tried to ignore the jealous feeling he felt inside but it was no use. He had never liked a girl until Effy; sometimes he thought that she had put him under a spell somehow.

"What are you staring at Ron?" George asked him, moving his eyebrows up and down suggestively. "Are you staring at Malfoy? Oh my! Are you in love with him!"

Ron looked at his brother and opened his to respond but Dumbledore had already walked up to the Goblet of Fire and said aloud, "Well, the Goblet is almost ready to make its decision. I estimate that it requires one more minute. Now, when the champions' names are called, I would ask them please to come up to the top of the Hall, walk along the staff table, and go through into the next chamber," he indicated the door behind the staff table. "where they will be receiving their first instructions."

As the group waited, Lee Jordan whispered, "Any second."

All of a sudden, the flames inside the goblet turned red again. Sparks began to fly from it. A moment later, a tongue of flame shot into the air, a charred piece of parchment fluttered out of it. The whole room gasped.

Dumbledore caught the piece of parchment and held it at arm's length, so that he could read it by the light of the flames, which had turned back to blue and white.

"The champion from Durmstrang," he read in a strong, clear voice, "Will be Viktor Krum."

"No surprises there!" yelled Ron as a storm of applause and cheering swept the Hall. Ron saw Viktor Krum rise from the Slytherin table and slouch up toward Dumbledore. He turned right, walked along the staff table, and disappeared through the door into the next chamber.

Above the roar of clapping, he had heard Karkaroff's voice as he yelled, "Bravo, Viktor! Knew you had it in you!"

The clapping and chatting died down. Now everyone's attention was focused again on the goblet, which seconds later, turned red once more. A second piece of parchment shot out of it, propelled by the flames.

"The champion from Beauxbatons," said Dumbledore "is Fleur Delacour!"

Harry whispered something to Ron, but Ron hardly heard him over the clapping.

"Oh look, they're all disappointed," Hermione said over the noise, nodding toward the remainder of the Beauxbatons party. "Disappointed" was a bit of an understatement. Two of the girls who had not been selected had dissolved into tears and were sobbing with their heads on their arms.

* * *

Effy frowned as she heard Fleur's name being called. She had hoped Tony would have been chosen for the champion of Beauxbatons.

She looked over at her brother, who was seated with her friends at the Ravenclaw table. He didn't look upset; he didn't even look as if he felt anything. But Effy knew, inside he was upset for not getting chosen to be the champion.

Pandora put her hand on Tony's shoulder and said something to him. Tony nodded and stopped clapping as it had finally died down.

When Fleur Delacour too had vanished into the side chamber, silence fell again, but this time it was a silence so stiff with excitement that you could almost taste it. The Hogwarts champion was next…

And the Goblet of Fire turned red once more. Sparks showered out of it. The tongue of flame shot high into the air, and from its tip Dumbledore pulled the third piece of parchment.

"The Hogwarts Champion," Dumbledore said, "is Cedric Diggory!"

A few Slytherins, who had put their names in the Goblet of Fire let out a groan as a boy from the Hufflepuff table stood up and walked up to the staff table, and go through the chamber to join the other champions.

"Excellent!" Dumbledore yelled out happily, "We now have our three Champions. I am sure that I can count upon all of you, including the remaining students of Beauxbatons, and Durmstrang to give your champions every ounce of support you can muster. By cheering your champions on you will contribute in a very real…"

But Dumbledore suddenly stopped speaking and it was apparent to everybody what had distracted him.

The fire in the goblet had just turned red again. Sparks were flying out of it. A long flame shot suddenly into the air, and born upon it was another piece of parchment.

Automatically, it seemed, Dumbledore reached out a long hand and seized the parchment. He held it out and stared at the name written upon it. There was a long pause, during which Dumbledore stared at the slip in his hands, and everyone in the room stared at Dumbledore. And then Dumbledore cleared his throat and Effy furrowed her brow. Someone must have put their name in the goblet under another school name to get chosen, if that was how it really did work. But why would someone want to do that?

Then Dumbledore opened his mouth and read the name aloud:

"Harry Potter."


	5. Friendships Start and Die

A/N: Oh geez, I'm sorry for the long wait. I've been busy as hell and I've rewritten this chapter about 10 times and I still feel it's not good enough. So I am sorry for how horrible this chapter is and for the long wait.

* * *

Chapter 5: Friendships Start and Die

* * *

Harry sat there, aware that every head in the Great Hall had turned to look at him. He was stunned. He felt numb. He was surely dreaming. He had not heard correctly.

There was no applause. A buzzing, as though of angry bees, was starting to fill the Hall; some students were standing up to get a better look at Harry as he sat, frozen, in his seat.

Up at the top table, Professor McGonagall had got to her feet and swept past Ludo Bagman and Professor Karkaroff to whisper urgently to Professor Dumbledore, who bent his ear toward her, frowning slightly.

Harry turned to Ron and Hermione; beyond them, he saw the long Gryffindor table all watching him, openmouthed.

"I didn't put my name in," Harry said blankly. "You know I didn't."

Both of them stared just as blankly back.

At the top table, Professor Dumbledore had straightened up, nodding to Professor McGonagall.

"Harry Potter!" he called again. "Harry! Up here, if you please!"

"Go on," Hermione whispered, giving Harry a slight push.

Harry got to his feet, trod on the hem of his robes, and stumbled slightly. He set off up the gap between the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff tables. It felt like an immensely long walk; the top table didn't seem to be getting any nearer at all, and he could feel hundreds and hundreds of eyes upon him, as though each were a searchlight. The buzzing grew louder and louder. After what seemed like an hour, he was right in front of Dumbledore, feeling the stares of all the teachers upon him.

"Well...through the door, Harry," said Dumbledore. He wasn't smiling.

* * *

When Harry had disappeared behind the door, the entire Great Hall was silent. No one understood how or why Harry's name had burst out of the Goblet of Fire, it wasn't possible. Not unless you used a very powerful Confundus Charm to trick such a powerful magical object such as the one in front of the students of Hogwarts, Beauxbatons, and Durmstrang.

"What the fuck was that?" Cook exclaimed. Standing up from his seat next to her, his hands were pressed against the table and he leant forward slightly to get a good look at Dumbledore. "He's not even of age and his fucking name just burst out of the thing!"

"Cook!" JJ whispered nervously, tugging at his friends arm trying to get him to sit back down again.

"Yeah, what was that?" Tony's voice said, as he stood up as well. Effy spotted Madame Maxime shoot Tony a glare. But he was Tony Stonem; he spoke his mind, manipulated people. No one could stop him, not really.

"Please, gentlemen." Said Dumbledore in a calm voice. "Refrain from using any profanity and take a seat."

Tony glared at Dumbledore and sat down. But Cook on the other hand stayed standing. "This is fucking shit, man! Potter is fourteen, and the rules said he had to be of age to participate, yeah?" Several people in the Great Hall nodded. "Yeah. So why the fuck did his name come out of that Goblet and now he's in the competition?"

"James Cook!" Karkaroff said, glaring at Cook. "Sit down this instant."

The two glared at each other for a long time, the tension building in the air. "Cook, please sit down." JJ pleaded again and this time Cook obeyed.

"Now," said Dumbledore, looking around the Hall. "I'd like the Prefects to bring the students and our guests to their common rooms so the Professors, Madame Maxime, Karkaroff and I can figure this situation out."

Students exchanged glances but soon a few students from Hufflepuff stood up and made their way towards the door. The other students soon followed suit, whispering in each other's ears of what had just occurred.

Effy was at the back of the Slytherin pack, her eyes glued on Ron who was bending down so he could whisper into Hermione Granger's ear. His brow was furrowed in what seemed to be anger and his blue eyes were filled with jealously.

She turns her head towards her fellow Slytherins and she sees they are almost out of sight. Effy hadn't even noticed the change in their pace or anything.

But she shrugs it off, and turns to her right, walking straight towards Ron and Hermione.

* * *

"I still can't believe it, Hermione." Said Ron, looking at the floor and shaking his head. His best mate was in the Tournament and he wasn't even supposed to be. Unbelievable.

Hermione let out a sigh and looked up at him with her big brown eyes. He's always liked Hermione—well not _always_ but most of the time. She was good and loyal friend to them but lately Ron had been feeling these other things towards Hermione. Something that made him want to be more than friends with her but that feelings quickly went away just as it came when Effy walked into the Great Hall the first day of school.

She was stunning.

Effy had this air around her that let you know she was in charge. That she was mysterious. That she held you at arm's length—no one gets to close or attached.

And Ron he wanted to get to know her—the real Effy because he could see she had these walls set up around her so that no one could get in. He wanted to get to know the girl behind the walls.

_He wanted to be with her._

"...we need to support him through this and not be—"Hermione stopped talking mid-sentence and tensed up.

Ron turns around to see why Hermione suddenly decided to her shut her mouth to see Effy walking over to them. Carrying that same air around her and this look in her eyes. Those beautiful blue eyes...

Effy stops walking in front of him and looks at him straight in the eye. As if she can see right through him almost. "Hi." She says.

Ron smiles and nods his head at her. "Hi, Effy."

"Might I ask why you are not with your House mates?" Hermione suddenly said, crossing her arms over her chest. "Dumbledore had said we must all go back to our own Houses."

Ron moves his eyes from Hermione to Effy to see her reaction. She stares at Hermione for a while before a smile slowly spreads across her face. She even let out a little laugh. He didn't get what was so funny about what Hermione said but it seemed to amuse Effy.

"Anyways," Ron said after a few moments of awkward silence. "Your friend made quite a scene in the Great Hall." He let out a small chuckle as he remembered the boy from Durmstrang getting up and tossing around the word 'fuck' as if it was nothing. It was the most Ron had ever heard the word in such a short amount of time.

Effy looked at him with an eyebrow raised. "You mean Cook?" Ron and Hermione nodded and it made Effy smile slightly again. "Yeah, well he just thought it was unfair of Harry being in the competition for obvious reasons and he stated it aloud. He likes to speak his mind Cook."

"Well, I do kind of agree with...what's his name? Cook? Oh. What a name, but yeah I do agree with him." Said Ron, shoving his hands in his trouser pockets.

"Ron!" Hermione gasped. "Why would you agree?" She asked.

He turns to his head to Hermione and lets out a sigh. "Isn't it obvious, Hermione?" He asked her but she stayed silent. "Harry's not of age and he's in the Tournament. We've gotten strict rules on this whole ordeal and since he's 'The Boy Who Lived' he can just waltz right in and throw everything off. And he gets away with it!"

Ron felt his face get warm. He always hated how Harry got to do everything that was exciting and daring. For example, in first year Harry was named the Gryffindor Seeker when the rules of Hogwarts clearly had stated you had to at least be a second year! But that didn't apply to Harry—oh no, he was the Defeater of the Dark Lord. He got his special treatment while the others stayed back and watched as Harry soared to new heights.

Hermione stares at him with a look of complete disbelief. She had never seen him talk about Harry like this until now. And Ron stares back at her, his blue eyes burning with anger now as he let the feeling build up and take over his body, his mind. Hermione lets out a sigh before turning forward.

"We're here." She says quietly, stopping in front of the portrait of the Fat Lady just like the others.

"You have a portrait of the Fat Lady for your common room?" Effy asked raising an eyebrow at the portrait. Her hand was brushing against Ron's lightly causing to feel a twinge of happiness. "That's...cool."

"Yes well," said Hermione walking towards the portrait as the students of Gryffindor began to pour in to get a night's rest. "I must be getting to bed and you should to, Ron. Goodnight." And then Hermione was gone.

* * *

Hermione was gone. It was just Ron and her now, standing outside the entrance to the Gryffindor common room in silence. She didn't feel like going back to the Slytherin common room, it was such a long walk to the dungeons and the girls in her dorm are rather annoying with their constant gossiping.

Effy reaches into her robe pocket and takes out her silver cigarette box. She could feel Ron's eyes on her and her cigarette box. She opens it and takes out one of her 6 cigarettes along with her blue lighter. "Want one?" She asked, moving the box in front of him.

"Uh, I don't smoke." He said, rubbing the back of his neck.

Effy looks at him, nods, and closes the box with her index finger. She puts the silver box back into her pocket and puts the cigarette she took out into her mouth. She lights the cigarette and inhales the toxins as she takes out the cigarette with her index and middle finger.

She closes her eyes and tilts her head up a bit. She can feel Ron's eyes on her, watching her with interest as she smiles slightly. Effy opens her eyes slowly and turns to look at Ron who's staring at her with such interest it amuses Effy.

She blows out causing a cloud of smoke to burst out in front of them and slowly float up to the castle's high ceiling. She notices that Ron is watching the smoke slowly rise; his head tilting to the side like a small child would do when they notice a new person.

"Can I try?" He asks, bringing his head back down.

Effy nods and hands him her cigarette. He takes it with his thumb and index finger and looks at it for a while.

"Thanks for letting me walk with you here. I know it's weird, me being a Slytherin and you being a Gryffindor." She says.

Ron shakes his head. "What? No. It's whatever, you know." He said shrugging then bringing the cigarette to his lips and inhaling it's toxins for himself. He ends up coughing up the smoke and hands the cigarette back to Effy. "It's cool." He says his voice hoarse.

Effy laughs, like really laughs. Ron's a fun boy to hang around, and he's a rather good friend. She actually wouldn't mind him and her...getting to know one another. But not _that_ way but actually getting to know one another like there common interests and all.

But the thing is she doesn't let anyone get to know her—the real Effy Stonem and she wasn't sure she was about to start.

"I think I should get inside. You know, before Hermione comes back out." He says to her awkwardly.

Effy nods. "Goodnight Ron." She says quietly.

"Goodnight, Effy." He awkwardly pats her on the shoulder and walks over to the portrait of the Fat Lady, who had been chatting with another portrait off to her right. The Fat Lady turns to Ron, waits a few moments before swinging open.

Ron turns around to look at her one more time before he steps inside.

* * *

"Harry, Cedric, I suggest you go up to bed," said Dumbledore, smiling at both of them. "I am sure Gryffindor and Hufflepuff are waiting to celebrate with you, and it would be a shame to deprive them of this excellent excuse to make a great deal of mess and noise."

Harry glanced at Cedric, who nodded, and they left together.

The Great Hall was deserted now; the candles had burned low, giving the jagged smiles of the pumpkins an eerie, flickering quality.

"So," said Cedric, with a slight smile. "We're playing against each other again!"

"I s'pose," said Harry. He really couldn't think of anything to say. The inside of his head seemed to be in complete disarray, as though his brain had been ransacked.

"So...tell me..." said Cedric as they reached the entrance hall, which was now lit only by torches in the absence of the Goblet of Fire."How did you get your name in?"

"I didn't," said Harry, staring up at him. "I didn't put it in. I was telling the truth."

"Ah...okay," said Cedric. Harry could tell Cedric didn't believe him. "Well...see you, then."

Instead of going up the marble staircase, Cedric headed for a door to its right. Harry stood listening to him going down the stone steps beyond it, then, slowly, he started to climb the marble ones.

Was anyone except Ron and Hermione going to believe him, or would they all think he'd put himself in for the tournament? Yet how could anyone think that, when he was facing competitors who'd had three years' more magical education than he had - when he was now facing tasks that not only sounded very dangerous, but which were to be performed in front of hundreds of people? Yes, he'd thought about it...he'd fantasized about it...but it had been a joke, really, an idle sort of dream...he'd never really, seriously considered entering...

Harry got a shock to find himself facing the Fat Lady already. He had barely noticed where his feet were carrying him. It was also a surprise to see that she was not alone in her frame. The wizened witch who had flitted into her neighbour's painting when he had joined the champions downstairs was now sitting smugly beside the Fat Lady. She must have dashed through every picture lining seven staircases to reach here before him. Both she and the Fat Lady were looking down at him with the keenest interest.

"Well, well, well," said the Fat Lady, "Violet's just told me everything. Who's just been chosen as school champion, then?"

"Balderdash," said Harry dully.

"It most certainly isn't!" said the pale witch indignantly.

"No, no, Vi, it's the password," said the Fat Lady soothingly, and she swung forward on her hinges to let Harry into the common room.

The blast of noise that met Harry's ears when the portrait opened almost knocked him backward. Next thing he knew, he was being wrenched inside the common room by about a dozen pairs of hands, and was facing the whole of Gryffindor House, all of whom were screaming, applauding, and whistling.

"You should've told us you'd entered!" bellowed Fred; he looked half annoyed, half deeply impressed.

"How did you do it without getting a beard? Brilliant!" roared George.

"I didn't," Harry said. "I don't know how -"

But Angelina had now swooped down upon him; "Oh if it couldn't be me, at least it's a Gryffindor -"

"You'll be able to pay back Diggory for that last Quidditch match, Harry!" shrieked Katie Bell, another of the Gryffindor Chasers.

"We've got food, Harry, come and have some -"

"I'm not hungry; I had enough at the feast -"

But nobody wanted to hear that he wasn't hungry; nobody wanted to hear that he hadn't put his name in the goblet; not one single person seemed to have noticed that he wasn't at all in the mood to celebrate...Lee Jordan had unearthed a Gryffindor banner from somewhere, and he insisted on draping it around Harry like a cloak. Harry couldn't get away; whenever he tried to sidle over to the staircase up to the dormitories, the crowd around him closed ranks, forcing another butterbeer on him, stuffing crisps and peanuts into his hands...Everyone wanted to know how he had done it, how he had tricked Dumbledore's Age Line and managed to get his name into the goblet...

"I didn't," he said, over and over again, "I don't know how it happened."

But for all the notice anyone took, he might just as well not have answered at all.

"I'm tired!" he bellowed finally, after nearly half an hour. "No, seriously, George—I'm going to bed—"

He wanted more than anything to find Ron and Hermione, to find a bit of sanity, but neither of them seemed to be in the common room. Insisting that he needed to sleep, and almost flattening the little Creevey brothers as they attempted to waylay him at the foot of the stairs, Harry managed to shake everyone off and climb up to the dormitory as fast as he could.

To his great relief, he found Ron was lying on his bed in the otherwise empty dormitory, still fully dressed. He looked up when Harry slammed the door behind him.

"Where've you been?" Harry said.

"Oh hello," said Ron.

He was grinning, but it was a very odd, strained sort of grin. Harry suddenly became aware that he was still wearing the scarlet Gryffindor banner that Lee had tied around him. He hastened to take it off, but it was knotted very tightly. Ron lay on the bed without moving, watching Harry struggle to remove it.

"So," he said when Harry had finally removed the banner and thrown it into a corner. "Congratulations."

"What d'you mean, congratulations?" said Harry, staring at Ron. There was definitely something wrong with the way Ron was smiling: It was more like a grimace.

"Well...no one else got across the Age Line," said Ron. "Not even Fred and George. What did you use—the Invisibility Cloak?"

"The Invisibility Cloak wouldn't have got me over that line," said Harry slowly.

"Oh right," said Ron. "I thought you might've told me if it was the cloak...because it would've covered both of us, wouldn't it? But you found another way, did you?"

"Listen," said Harry, "I didn't put my name in that goblet. Someone else must've done it."

Ron raised his eyebrows. "What would they do that for?"

"I dunno," said Harry. He felt it would sound very melodramatic to say, "To kill me."

Ron's eyebrows rose so high that they were in danger of disappearing into his hair.

"It's okay, you know, you can tell me the truth," he said. "If you don't want everyone else to know, fine, but I don't know why you're bothering to lie, you didn't get into trouble for it, did you? That friend of the Fat Lady's, that Violet, she's already told us all Dumbledore's letting you enter. A thousand Galleons prize money, eh? And you don't have to do end-of-year tests either..."

"I didn't put my name in that goblet!" said Harry, starting to feel angry.

"Yeah, okay," said Ron, in exactly the same sceptical tone as Cedric. "Only you said this morning you'd have done it last night, and no one would've seen you...I'm not stupid, you know. I can see Harry, I could see in your eyes on how wondrous it could be if you got into the Tournament when Dumbledore announced it—then all of a sudden you're in the competition? Strange, isn't it? And I also see the way you look at her, Harry—"

"Who?" He asked, confused.

"Effy!" Ron exclaimed. "God, it's obvious you fancy her. The way you keep staring at her when we're in the Great Hall or in class. You want her too now don't you? _For fuck's sake Harry, I'm not stupid!"_

"You're doing a really good impression of it," Harry snapped.

"Yeah?" said Ron, and there was no trace of a grin, forced or otherwise, on his face now. "You want to get to bed, Harry. I expect you'll need to be up early tomorrow for a photo-call or something."

He wrenched the hangings shut around his four-poster, leaving Harry standing there by the door, staring at the dark red velvet curtains, now hiding one of the few people he had been sure would believe him.


	6. You've Basically Ruined Everything

A/N: I think this is my favorite chapter of this story, so far. I don't know if I did any well writing the way Effy thinks so I'd be appreciated if you could tell me because she's such a complex character that I don't know if I did her justice. Anyways, enjoy!

* * *

Chapter 6 : You've Basically Ruined Everything

* * *

"How are things, Ef?" asked Tony.

The two Stonems were sitting outside in the courtyard; back's pressed up against a tree, and spliffs in their hands. It was early morning and Tony had somehow managed to find Effy and take his little sister outside while everyone slept.

"Everything is fine, Tony." She said, leaning her head back so it was rested against the tree's trunk. Her knees were pulled up to her chest and her left hand was hanging over her left knee with her spliff in between her fingers.

"Are you sure?" He asked his voice sceptical. "You're not fucking anybody? Well the people here don't seem like they fuck any good either way."

Effy smiles. "No, I'm not fucking anybody."

_But I want too fuck—ugh, Effy shut up. They'd never shag you, they are all goody goody. _She mentally added.

"Hmm..." said Tony. He lifts his spliff to his lip and inhales. Tony waits a few moments before exhaling, letting a trail of smoke to escape his lips and float around the two. "But you want to."

Effy rolls her eyes. "You don't know that."

"Oh yeah?" He turns around and faces her; a smile is on his face. "I can see it in your eyes, Ef. No matter how hard you wanna try and hide it. It's there. Now who's the boy?"

"None of your concern, Tones." She says.

Tony lies down on the grass. He's looks at Effy from the corner of his eye. His eyebrow is raised. "I know you Effy. Now tell your big brother who the boy on his little sister's mind is."

"It's really none of your business Tony." She says getting irritated with her brother but she didn't show it. She never shows emotion. "_Drop the fucking subject._"

The two Stonems looks at each other for quite sometime, Effy staring at him with annoyance and Tony staring at her with amusement. Effy lifts her spliff to her mouth, inhales, and exhales, then watches the smoke blow out of her mouth and get swept away by the wind.

"Alright," He says. There is a pause before he says, "have you heard from mum lately?"

Effy shakes her head. "No. Why has she Owled you?"

Tony nods his head. "Yeah, she's gone on some cruise with a couple of her friends-"

Effy snorts. "Mum has friends? All I remember is her lying down on her fucking lazy arse and not wanting to get up for days after you—never mind."

"Anyways she met a guy there and she says they've really hit it off."

_Typical mum. _She shakes her head. _Been whoring around with guys ever since Dad had left us a couple of summers ago and since Dad's line manager decided to dump her too. Been a goddamn mess, she has. _

"Why don't you like mum anymore, Ef?" Tony props himself up onto his right elbow, his body turned to face her.

She shrugs. "Things change, Tone."

"You got that right, Effy. Lot of things have changed—you started speaking again, dad left mum, 'Chelle and I broke up—"

"Where is Michelle?" She asked.

"She stayed back at Beauxbatons for some reason with Jal, and Sid left so he could, you know, find Cassie wherever the fuck she went off too. Maxxie and Anwar—I think they tagged along too, but I've lost connection with them and Chris..." Tony's voice trails off and his blue eyes become sad.

Effy pats her brother's shoulder and gives him a comforting smile. She never knew Chris well, but she'd spoken to him a couple of times before when she began to speak again and he'd seem to be a great friend.

Tony nodded and took a long drag from his spliff. "And also you know what else has changed? Effy Stonem actually likes someone." He faked a gasp.

"I told you to drop the fucking subject, Tony!" Effy rolls her eyes. "I don't like anyone, except for my friends—well I'm not even entirely sure about them either. God," She ran her fingers through her long brown hair. "You can be such a fucking wanker sometimes."

A smirk creeps onto Tony's face and he lets out a chuckle. "I've been told."

Effy looks at Tony, who can't seem to wipe that expression off his face. Every since they were little kids Tony was that one and only person who's been able to get through the wall Effy has built around herself.

"You know, Tony, you've really fucked up with Michelle." She says after a moment of silence. Tony nods. "Have you tried owling her?"

"Yes."

"How many times."

"39 times."

"How many times did you text her when we were in Bristol?"

"141 times."

Effy can't help but smile a bit at this. "And still nothing?"

"Nothing."

Effy looks up from Tony and at the castle. A few students are beginning to come into the courtyard, all ready for class and apples in their hands as they laugh with their friends. "Wow. Michelle really hates you."

"Yeah." Tony says, falling back onto his back and closing his eyes.

"Well," She says, looking down at the spliff in between her fingers. "You did totally fuck up her relationship. You just stormed right in there and fucked it up."

Tony opens his eyes, and glares at his sister. "Yes, alright. I get the point, Ef, I fucked it up. But I love her, OK?"

Effy looks at her brother right as he says '_love'_. She raises an eyebrow at him. "Love?" She says the word as if she's never heard it before.

"Just leave it, Ef."

"Love. Love. Love." She singsongs, sounding distant. "What is it good for? _Absolutely nothing."_

Tony takes a long drag from his spliff.

There is a silence. They don't know how long it is before Effy spoke but when she did all she said was, "Why bother?"

"With what?" Tony furrows his brow at his sister's question.

"Caring about people."

Tony sits up and moves closer to Effy so that he is right next to her. His face his next to hers, breathe tickling her skin. "You care, Effy. I know you do but you just hide it and pretend you're a heartless little girl. And you're good at concealing things. Hiding. Avoiding. But, you don't fool me, Effy Stonem."

He gets up off that ground and Effy watches. She's silent the entire time as he begins to walk away. His words ringing in her head.

* * *

Effy was walking down the halls with Pandora, who was either talking about Thomas, her new boyfriend, or how brill Hogwarts was for her. Effy tuned in and out of what Panda was saying, her eyes catching these flashing green buttons that were being worn by most of the school today.

"Panda," She says her eyes on Draco Malfoy who is walking down the hall while talking with Pansy Parkinson. "Do you know what those buttons say?" She points to the one on Draco's robe.

Panda squints her eyes and leans forward. "I think it says 'POTTER STINKS'."

Effy rolls her eyes. "Thanks."

Pandora smiles and Effy smiles back. Pandora, she was such an amazing friend to Effy, and she could never fully fathom why Pandora was friends with her.

Panda says it's because Effy's the coolest of the cool and that any of Effy's boyfriends or fuck buddies wouldn't want to '_surf and turf'_ her because she's useless. But she knows there is more. Pandora gets Effy—even when she fully doesn't get her, herself. They were like night and day. Complete opposites. It shouldn't word, but it did.

"Pandora!" a shrill voice yelled from behind them.

The girls turned around to see Fleur Delacour walking towards them. She was wearing her Beauxbatons pale blue silk robes and she had her long silver hair pulled back into a long ponytail. "Elizabeth," She says stiffly, locking eyes with Effy.

"Fleur." Effy says her voice calm, cool. Just like always.

"Have you turned this school into a dee-zastor yet?" She asked, raising a silver eyebrow.

"Yes, as you can see I've turned every student in Hogwarts into hard core, sex loving, drug addicts." She waved her arm to show a bunch of Ravenclaw girls who were sitting up against the wall, giggling, and writing out some notes.

Fleur glares at Effy before turning to Pandora. "Pandora, Madame Maxime had told us last night zat we must meet with her at zis time! Everyone else eez already zare! Madame Maxime had me looking all over zee school for you. Now come on," She took hold of Pandora's wrist. "we must go. And I have to go to an interview soon, so hurry up."

Pandora shot Effy an apologetic look. "Whizzers. I forgot. Sorry, Ef. I'll see you later." She then walked off with Fleur.

With a sigh, Effy adjusts her messenger bag and begins to walk down the hall. She wasn't looking where she was walking when suddenly she felt someone bump into her. The person who she had bumped into books had fallen onto the ground. Effy didn't do anything she just stared down at the person that had walked into her.

"Sorry." They said. It was a boy, wearing Gryffindor robes.

"S'alright." She says.

The boy looks up and Effy meets familiar emerald green eyes behind full moon glasses. Harry.

He smiles at her, as he picks up his books and stands up. "Hi Effy." He says, a hint of nervousness is there.

"Hi." She says, smiling slightly.

"Sorry for knocking into you like that. I wasn't looking where I was going." He says, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. Just like Ron did when she was talking to him outside of the Gryffindor common room. "I didn't mean too."

She nods her head. "I said it's alright. You did more damage to yourself than you did to me." She pointed out.

"Right." He says quietly.

"How are things being Champion?"

"Not so good, at the moment. How are things with you and Ron?" He asked.

Effy was taken back at his question. "Ron and I? What do you mean?" She asks, furrowing her brow.

"I thought Ron and you were dating. I mean, Hermione told me that you spent a long time talking to him last night, and that you talked to him after breakfast, so I thought..."

Effy shook her head. "No. I'm not dating, Ron. We're just...friends."

Harry nods his head, understanding. She can see in his eyes that there is a glimmer of happiness. He doesn't want Effy to be dating anyone, he wants to date her. She can tell. She can _always _tell.

"So," He says awkwardly. "How do you like things at Hogwarts?"

She shrugs. "It's...different from what I'm used to."

"May I ask what Beauxbatons was like for you? I mean, the students that came from your old school don't seem like the type of kids that would..."

Effy looks at him dead in the eye. "Drink until they pass out? Swallow every pill you can get your hand on? Snort anything in sight? And fuck like rabbits?" Harry nods. "Well, it was only mostly the students in my year and above that did any of it. And the kids you see, they all put up an act. Accept Fleur and her friends, they were never the type to do what I do."

Harry nods his head. "You are a very interesting person, Effy Stonem." A smile slowly creeps onto his face.

"As are you, Harry Potter." She smirks at him. "Where you heading now?"

"Potions, how about you?"

"I'm supposed to be going to Potions too but I didn't know if I really wanted to go."

"Well," says Harry, the nervousness from before coming back. "if you do decide to come to Potions, would you mind if I walk you?"

Effy shook her head. "I wouldn't mind at all."

When she and Harry arrived at Snape's dungeon, they found the Slytherins waiting outside, each and every one of them wearing a large badge on the front of his or her robes. They all bore the same message, in luminous red letters that burnt brightly in the dimly lit underground passage:

SUPPORT CEDRIC DIGGORY-

THE REAL HOGWARTS CHAMPION!

"Oi, Stonem!" Draco Malfoy's annoying voice suddenly calls as she and Harry approach. "You should really stop hanging around the lesser kind here." He says, walking towards Harry and her with Crabbe and Goyle following him.

Effy rolls her eyes, and cross her arms over her chest. "Piss off, Malfoy." She says acidly. She hears Harry chuckle.

Draco glares at her for a moment, before turning to Harry. "Like them, Potter?" pointing to his badge. "And this isn't all they do - look!"

He pressed his badge into his chest, and the message upon it vanished, to be replaced by another one, which glowed green:

POTTER STINKS!

The Slytherins expect for Effy, howled with laughter. Each of them pressed their badges too, until the message POTTER STINKS was shining brightly all around her. She turned to Harry for a moment to see his hands were clenched into fists.

"Oh very funny," Hermione said sarcastically to Pansy Parkinson and her gang of Slytherin girls, who were laughing harder than anyone, she had been standing with Ron, "really witty."

Effy looked at Ron and met his eyes for a moment, she could see that there was a tint of jealousy and anger in them. He had his arms crossed over his chest as his eyes broke the connection between Effy and him and shifted to Harry. He glared at Harry for a moment, before looking away. She sighed.

"Want one, Granger?" said Malfoy, holding out a badge to Hermione. "I've got loads. But don't touch my hand, now. I've just washed it, you see; don't want a Mudblood sliming it up."

Her head shot up at the word 'Mudblood' and she felt herself becoming angry. Someone had called Pandora that when they were younger, and Effy knew the meaning of the word, and cursed the boy who had called Panda that word. For that entire week she received detention with the boy who insisted on continuing calling Pandora a 'Mudblood' causing Effy to beat the shit out of him each time.

Breaking herself off of her thoughts, she turned to see Harry's reaction. His hand was moving towards his wand, and people began to scramble out of the way, backing down the corridor.

"Harry!" Hermione said warningly.

"Go on, then, Potter," Malfoy said quietly, drawing out his own wand. "Moody's not here to look after you now - do it, if you've got the guts -"

For a split second, they looked into each other's eyes, then, at exactly the same time, both acted.

"Funnunculus!" Harry yelled.

"Densaugeo!" screamed Malfoy.

Jets of light shot from both wands, hit each other in midair, and ricocheted off at angles - Harry's hit Goyle in the face, and Malfoy's hit Hermione. Goyle bellowed and put his hands to his nose, where great ugly boils were springing up - Hermione, whimpering in panic, was clutching her mouth.

"Hermione!"

Ron had hurried forward to see what was wrong with her; Harry turned and saw Ron dragging Hermione's hand away from her face. It wasn't a pretty sight. Hermione's front teeth - already larger than average - were now growing at an alarming rate; she was looking more and more like a beaver as her teeth elongated, past her bottom lip, toward her chin - panic-stricken, she felt them and let out a terrified cry.

"And what is all this noise about?" said a soft, deadly voice.

Snape had arrived. The Slytherins clamoured to give their explanations; Snape pointed a long yellow finger at Malfoy and said, "Explain."

"Potter attacked me, sir -"

"We attacked each other at the same time!" Harry shouted.

"- and he hit Goyle - look -"

Snape examined Goyle, whose face now resembled something that would have been at home in a book on poisonous fungi. "Hospital wing, Goyle," Snape said calmly.

"Malfoy got Hermione!" Ron said. "Look!"

He forced Hermione to show Snape her teeth - she was doing her best to hide them with her hands, though this was difficult as they had now grown down past her collar. Pansy Parkinson and the other Slytherin girls were doubled up with silent giggles, pointing at Hermione from behind Snape's back.

Snape looked coldly at Hermione, then said, "I see no difference."

Hermione let out a whimper; her eyes filled with tears, she turned on her heel and ran, ran all the way up the corridor and out of sight. It was lucky, perhaps, that both Harry and Ron started shouting at Snape at the same time; lucky their voices echoed so much in the stone corridor, for in the confused din, it was impossible for him to hear exactly what they were calling him.

"Let's see," he said, in his silkiest voice. "Fifty points from Gryffindor and a detention each for Potter and Weasley. Now get inside, or it'll be a week's worth of detentions."

Effy rolled her eyes. Although Hermione wasn't actually her friend, she knew that Snape was not being fair to her. For fuck's sake the girl's teeth were practically going to reach the floor by the time she makes it to the Hospital Wing to get them fixed.

"Professor Snape," Effy suddenly said causing heads to swerve her way. "I know that you're not the nicest teacher in the world but I do think that doesn't give you the right to ignore what Malfoy did to Hermione as well as being a downright prick." Her voice is sweet and innocent. Just like how Tony talks when he does this sort of thing. "Malfoy fully hit Hermione with that spell, intentionally by the looks of it and you have the audacity to fucking say that you see no goddamn difference in her appearance?"

Everyone's jaws were on the ground by now. No one had heard Effy talk like this at Hogwarts.

"You must be really fucking stupid, as well as blind, if you cannot see that her teeth were past her collarbone."

All was silent for a moment, then Snape opened his mouth and said, "Twenty points from Slytherin, Ms Stonem for using profanity and insulting a Professor." He turned his back to her.

Effy shrugged. "Professor Snape," She said, causing Snape to stop in his tracks. "I'm feeling rather shit. I think maybe I should go to the Hospital Wing."

Snape looked over his shoulder to get a good look at her. "Is that so?"

Effy nods. "Yes, I don't want to puke up my breakfast all over your classroom."

Wanting to get rid of her, Snape waved a hand to dismiss her. Effy then turned on her heel and made her way down the corridor and away from Hell known as Snape's Potion class.

* * *

"You'll have to wait a few minutes, Ms Stonem. I've got to get Ms Granger to drink this potion for her teeth, and then you may talk to her." Madame Pompfrey says, then hurries away into the direction of a sectioned off bed where Hermione was.

Effy had come up to the Hospital Wing to come and talk to Hermione. She didn't know why she had come to talk to Hermione Granger, but she did, and deep down she must have had a good reason for coming.

When she was allowed to talk to Hermione, she noticed that her teeth had shrunken down to just under her chin. Her brown eyes were filled with tears which she hastily wiped away with the back of her hands. When she noticed Effy, her brow instantly furrowed.

Madame Pompfrey hurried over for a moment with parchment and a quill. She handed it to Hermione. "This is so you may communicate for the time being, Ms Granger." She told her then walked off.

Effy waited until she heard the door of Madame Pompfrey's office door close with a _click._ She then turned to Hermione, who was eyeing her suspiciously. "You're probably wondering why I'm here."

Hermione nodded.

"Well, I know you don't like me and I'm not exactly fancying you either but I think you're a good person, Hermione, and what Snape said to you was really fucking hurtful. Harry and Ron...they're good friends to you, you know? They yelled at Snape for a good five minutes on how unfair it was and I think Ron said something to him like 'You stupid hooked nose idiot! Has your greasy hair blinded you or something?'"

A smile appeared on Hermione's face. It didn't look all too well with Hermione's teeth enlarged and all. She then began to write something on the parchment and handed it to Effy.

_Yes, I know they're good friends but I still don't understand why you're here, Effy._

Effy looked up from the paper and sighed. "I don't really know. I just came here. Wanted to talk to you for some reason, don't know why, my subconscious—deep down brought me here, I think. But I haven't really gotten to you know, Hermione. All I know is that you are a goody two shoes, who is a know-it-all, and is jealous that Ron likes me."

Hermione's eyes widened when she mentions the last part.

"Everyone can see it, Hermione. All expect Ron."

Hermione's blushes and looks away from Effy. She then turns to her parchment and begins to write. Effy watches as the quill moves across the parchment. Hermione then hands it to her, not making eye contact with Effy at all.

_Please don't take them away from me._

Effy looks up from the note and at Hermione. "Who?" She asks, pretending that she has no idea who '_them'_ are in her note.

Hermione takes the note back and writes.

_Harry and Ron. You see, Effy, they are the only friends I've ever had and ever since you came to Hogwarts, well...you've basically ruined everything. _

She doesn't know what to say, so she remains silent. Effy re reads the note over and over until she can't take it anymore. This feeling in her. Was it guilt? But she was Effy Stonem, she never felt guilty about, well, anything. But this, what Hermione wrote, it seemed to touch her in a way that she wasn't able to describe.

She can feel Hermione's eyes on her as she hands her back the note. Effy finally looks up and meets her hurt brown eyes. "I can't do that, Hermione." She says, trying to keep her voice under control.

Hermione sighs and shakes her head before writing down two words on the parchment:

_Why not?_

Effy sighs and shake her head. Hermione takes the parchment from her, writes down a couple of words, then places it back in her now shaking hands again.

_They love you. I can see it in their eyes whenever you come in spitting distance of them, Effy. I don't know how they can love you already, seeing as they hardly know anything about you at all. But they do. And their love for you, on top of the TriWizard Tournament, is tearing them apart slowly._

She can feel tears filling her eyes now. She's Effy fucking Stonem and Effy fucking Stonem doesn't cry. Effy doesn't want to meet Hermione's hurt and pained brown eyes because she knows that a tear will begin to fall if she does. And she can't let that happen.

Unable to take it anymore, Effy grabs her bag off the floor and leaves the Hospital Wing. Quickly, she wipes her eyes and finds her way to the courtyard. There, she takes out a cigarette, lights it, and brings it up to her lips.

Hermione's words are floating around in her head.

_You've basically ruined everything._


	7. Not Built For Romance

A/N: Hey, here's the latest chapter. The last part is a bit fucked up, so sorry about that. And someone suggested that I give Ron and Harry the 'list' that Effy had given Freddie and Cook in Series 3 Episode 1. I'm hesitant on that because Ron and Harry don't seem like the people that would do that, so I'm giving you guys the choice. Do you guys want the list or no?

And since this is the seventh chapter and usually Effy's episode is usually the seventh or eighth that means things are going to get really fucked up in Effy's life soon.

* * *

Chapter Seven: Not Built For Romance

* * *

It was Hogsmeade weekend and Ron was walking down the stone pathway with his hands in his pockets and looking down at his shoes. He was going to meet his older brothers, Fred and George, and their friend, Lee Jordan, at the Three Broomsticks since he was no longer on speaking terms with Harry and Hermione, he hardly ever talked to her anymore seeing as she was always with Harry now. And as for Effy? Ron didn't know what the hell was up with her. They were both getting along so well then poof, suddenly Effy was avoiding him or when he talked to her she said very little.

When Ron was nearly at the Three Broomsticks he lifted his head and he stopped dead in his tracks. There she was. Effy Stonem was leaning casually against the wall of the Three Broomsticks smoking a cigarette not paying any attention to the judging eyes of the other Hogwarts students. She was looking straight at him, her stunning blue eyes boring right into him. They seemed to see right through him, and see what most cannot see. Oh, the magic that was Effy Stonem.

Ron took a deep breath, buried his hands deeper in his pocket and made his way towards the door and Effy. She was watching him, and he knew. With that stare of hers, the one that went with a special look, one that was completely and utterly unreadable. It always puzzled Ron, he wanted to know what he was thinking but he knew that was impossible.

"Uh, hey Effy." He said, awkwardly. In his head he sounded so much cooler.

She greeted him with a wisp of a smile. "Hi."

Effy then lets the cigarette drop from between her fingers and to the ground. Ron looks down as she stubs out the cigarette out under a scuffed shoe and blows a trail of smoke into the air. "What are you doing here?" She asks, furrowing her brow slightly. "Meeting anyone?"

Ron nods his head quickly, looking back up at Effy. "Yeah, uh, I'm meeting my brothers and their friend for some butterbeers."

"Can I meet them?"

The question startles Ron. Effy wants to meet...his brothers? Well, he certainly didn't expect her to ask that. But then again, you never know what Effy is going to say.

"Uh..." He says, rubbing the back of his neck. "Sure, why not."

Effy smiles slightly as she pushes herself off the wall. "Cool."

Ron opens the pub's door for her and the two walked into the already packed Three Broomsticks. He could already see his brothers and Lee, they were laughing loudly with butterbeers in their hands. Awkwardly, Ron took Effy's hand and led her to his brothers.

As they approached, Fred and George raised their eyebrows at a girl being with their little brother. "Hey Ronniekins." They said in unison, their eyes moving from Effy to Ron.

"Who's your girlfriend?" asked George.

Ron felt his face grow hot, which meant his face was turning red. "She's not my girlfriend. Well, uh, she is but she's my friend that's a, uh, girl."

The three boys nodded their heads, grinning as the two sat down. "Hey, aren't you that Beauxbaton transfer student?" asked Lee Jordan.

Effy nodded. "Yes. I am."

"Elizabeth Stonem, right?" asked Fred before taking a sip of his butterbeer.

"Yeah, but instead of Elizabeth it's Effy. Elizabeth was a rather shit name." She said in that same old mysterious tone of hers. "And what are your names?"

"I'm Fred." Said Fred, raising his hand slightly.

"George. His twin." He said pointing to Fred with his thumb.

"Lee...Jordan."

Effy nods her head again. "Cool." She says simply.

"Now Effy," says Fred, setting down his buttbeer down on the table. "what is a girl like you, Slytherin, and beautiful doing with a guy like my brother?"

Ron rolls his eyes at his brothers' comment. Bloody git, he was.

But all Effy did was smile and shrugs her shoulders causing the boys to look at her with a confused look. The same look that Ron always gave her when she gave him one of her Effy riddles.

* * *

The Three Broomsticks was packed, mainly with Hogwarts students enjoying their free afternoon, but also with a variety of magical people Harry rarely saw anywhere else. Harry supposed that as Hogsmeade was the only all-wizard village in Britain, it was a bit of a haven for creatures like hags, who were not as adept as wizards at disguising themselves.

It was very hard to move through crowds in the Invisibility Cloak, in case you accidentally trod on someone, which tended to lead to awkward questions. Harry edged slowly toward a spare table in the corner while Hermione went to buy drinks. On his way through the pub, Harry spotted Ron, who was sitting with Fred, George, Lee Jordan, and...Effy. The more she saw him spending time with Ron, the less of the chance he thinks he has with her.

As Harry was passing Ron's table he was resisting the urge to give Ron a good hard poke in the back of the head, he finally reached the table and sat down at it.

Hermione joined him a moment later and slipped him a butterbeer under his cloak.

"I look like such an idiot, sitting here on my own," she muttered. "Lucky I brought something to do."

And she pulled out a notebook in which she had been keeping a record of S.P.E.W. members. Harry saw his and Ron's names at the top of the very short list. It seemed a long time ago that they had sat making up those predictions together, and Hermione had turned up and appointed them secretary and treasurer.

"You know, maybe I should try and get some of the villagers involved in S.P.E.W.," Hermione said thoughtfully, looking around the pub.

"Yeah, right," said Harry, only half paying attention to Hermione. If you hadn't guessed his attention was on Ron and Effy who were laughing at a joke that the twins had just made. Harry took a swig of butterbeer under his cloak. "Hermione, when are you going to give up on this spew stuff?"

"When house-elves have decent wages and working conditions!" she hissed back. "You know, I'm starting to think it's time for more direct action. I wonder how you get into the school kitchens?"

"No idea, ask Fred and George," said Harry.

Hermione lapsed into thoughtful silence, while Harry drank his butterbeer, watching the people in the pub. All of them looked cheerful and relaxed. Ernie Macmillan and Hannah Abbot were swapping Chocolate Frog cards at a nearby table; both of them sporting Support Cedric Diggory! Badges on their cloaks. But soon his gaze returned to Effy, who was smiling and Ron looking down at her smiling. She wasn't wearing a Cedric badge though...This cheered up Harry very slightly. But Harry did get the pang of jealously inside him when he saw the way his 'best mate' was smiling at the girl he fancied. He knew Ron fancied Effy as well, it was obvious, but it still made Harry jealous that she spent more time with him and she did with him.

When Harry looked at Effy again he noticed that her eyes were locked with his. It was like she could see right through his Invisibility Cloak and see him. Her lips curled into a smile, _that _Effy smile. The smile that was never readable.

* * *

Effy sat there with the three Weasley's and Lee Jordan, smiling at the jokes the twins made. Lately, she had been so fucking confused on what to do. After what Hermione told her about what she was doing to her friendship with Ron and Harry, she felt guilty. And Effy Stonem has never felt guilty before, so it made her even more confused than she already was. What the fuck was happening to her?

She wasn't supposed to feel the way she was feeling about Ron and Harry. She wasn't supposed to _care_ about them. She has _never _cared about anyone except Tony. Only Tony and no one else, well maybe Pandora, but she those were the only two. But now...shit...

She knew that both boys they wanted more. They wanted to be seeing either like girlfriend and boyfriend shit, not fucking each other. But that was the thing; Effy gets fucked and fucked up, she's not built for romance.

_You've basically ruined everything._

Why couldn't she get Hermione's words out of her head? They were stuck there. Tattooed into her brain for some unknown reason but she wanted it out. She wanted out of all of this. Out from Ron, out from Harry, out from Hogwarts. They just made everything more and more complicated than they already were.

Effy stands up from the table, and suddenly the eyes of everyone at the table are on her. "I've got to go." She says quietly. "It was nice meeting you," she says to the twins and Lee, she then turns to Ron who looks at her sadly. "Bye Ron." She tells him, avoiding his eyes before walking out of the Three Broomsticks.

As soon as Effy had exited the Three Broomsticks, someone was already calling her name. She groaned and turned to see Cook walking towards her, Cook wearing a huge grin on his face.

"Hey princess." He says, stopping in front of her.

Effy's arms are crossed over her chest, a smile tugging at the corner of her lips. "What are you doing here, Cook?" She asks raising an eyebrow.

"Well, I heard you Hogwarts kids were coming out to Hogsmeade so I thought why the fuck not come and join. I ditched the others and came here."

"And to do what?"

Cook shrugs. "I dunno, Eff. Maybe just hang, Freddie and JJ can be fun sponges at times, you know?"

The two stand there, silent. They haven't known each other long but Effy likes Cook, he's brave. That's what she loves about his personality. He seems like a person who could get in a shit load of problem but he's the type of person who'd stick up for his friends, wherever, whenever.

"Wanna go for a walk, princess?" He suddenly asks, the grin gone and his hands in his pockets.

Effy nods. "Sure, why not." She says, arms still crossed over her chest as her and Cook begin to walk through Hogsmeade.

"Read 'bout you, in that rubbish paper." He says, keeping his focus straight while walking.

Effy raises an eyebrow. "Oh yeah? I was in the paper? And what did it say, may I ask?"

"How you and that Granger girl or whatever have been spending a lot of time with Potter lately and that you're all secretly in love." A smile is forming on his face. "It's by Rita Skeeter, so of course it's fucking bollix."

_Not complete bollix, Cook. _She thinks to herself, sighing.

"Complete shit. That's all she publishes." She says, nodding her head.

And it's true for the most part, all Rita Skeeter puts out in the stupid Prophet is all lies with occasional truth but that's rather rare. But Effy had an attraction to Harry, there was no denying it, but she wasn't _in love_ with him.

She never loved, only Tony. Tony was the exception to love and care for Effy.

Only Tony and no one else.

"Well from what I've seen you've been spending a shit load of time with Harry's best mate, are you two like seeing each other?" He asks, looking at Effy.

Effy shakes her head. "No." She says firmly. "Ron and I aren't seeing each other."

"Are you two fucking occasionally then?"

"No, we're not fucking either, Cook."

"No fucking. No dating. No nothing?"

Effy nods and sighs. "No nothing."

"Well that seems like shit. You three obviously have something for each other."

Effy raises an eyebrow. "And what the fuck do you mean by that Cook?"

Cook shrugs. "Dunno, Eff. I guess I mean that it's pretty fucking obvious that Ron and Harry feel something for you by the way they look at you, but you already know that don't you? Yeah, I know. I'm right. Cookie's always right, princess. But maybe you feel something for them. Just you don't know it, Effy."

Effy is surprised by what Cook has just said to her. He went from the Cook she knows which is someone who is wild to someone who understands how people feel.

"Hey, Cook?" She says after a while.

"Yeah?"

"Do you, Freddie, and JJ want to come to a party tonight?" She asks. "My friends from Beauxbatons are throwing one, they've got Firewhiskey and spliffs and all that shit. We're sneaking out onto the grounds, near the Forest but not near Hagrid's Hut. So what do you say?"

Cook grins and nods his head. "You know it, babe."

* * *

Harry was walking back to the Gryffindor Common Room under his Invisibility Cloak after meeting with Hagrid about his First Task. He was going to be facing Dragons. Real life fire breathing Dragons. Blimey, he was terrified. He didn't know what to think actually. His thoughts were all jumbled together, words popping out: _Fear. Tournament. Ron. Anger. Dragons. Sirius. Fire. Effy._

Harry let out a sigh as he turned a corner when he noticed a figure down at the end of the hallway. They were stumbling a bit as they walked down the corridor, letting out small laughs. Girl laughs. A girl who seemed to be drunk on school grounds. There was only one person who Harry knew who would get drunk on school grounds.

Effy.

Harry walked over to the stumbling Effy, and slowly removed his Invisibility Cloak, even though he shouldn't have. As Harry approaches sees that her clothes are ruffled, her hair a tousled mess. Her eyes are still heavily made up and her lips are glistening slightly with a light layer of lip gloss on her lips. She smells of alcohol and smoke which makes Harry's nose scrunch up.

"Effy, you alright?" He asks, though he thinks it sounds like such a dumb question.

Effy stares at him blankly for a minutes before blinking letting the Effy he knows return. The mysterious one. The one that is unreadable no matter how hard you try. She looks at Harry with her intense blue eyes and shrugs. "I got a bit fucked up with my friends outside." She said, pulling out a baggie and showing it to Harry. "It's MDMA. You want some?" She asks, raising an eyebrow. "Me and you, let's get fucked some more, yeah?"

Harry shakes his head, and takes the baggie from Effy's hand and puts it in his pocket, just in case. "What were you doing outside, Eff?" He asks.

"Just...having a little party with my friends."

"Do you need me to help you get to your common room?" He asks.

Effy shrugs. "Dunno. Can I crash at your common room for the night, Harry?"

The question catches him off guard. Effy wants to go sleep in the Gryffindor common room? Was that even allowed? Should he even let her sleep there? Well, she is pretty messed up at the moment and she doesn't seem able to make it back on her own if he leaves.

"Uh, sure."

She smiles slightly, making his heart skip a beat. Her smile, it's so beautiful when she smiles. She should do it more often, he thinks.

"Thanks Harry." She says.

Harry nods and takes her hand. "I'll show you the way." He says, leading her towards the portrait of the Fat Lady.

But the sudden thought struck him as they approached the sleeping portrait. Sirius. He had to make it to the fire and talk to Sirius! Merlin, he had forgotten! How stupid of him. Maybe, he could bring Effy quickly up to the dorms without waking anyone, especially Ron, then sneak down to the fire just in time and maybe sleep on the couch.

"Balderdash!" Harry says in a whispered yell.

"If you say so," she muttered sleepily, without opening her eyes, and the picture swung forward to admit him. Harry climbed inside still holding onto Effy's hand. The common room was deserted, and, judging by the fact that it smelled quite normal, Hermione had not needed to set off any Dungbombs to ensure that he and Sirius got privacy.

Effy had slipped her hand out of his as they entered, walking over to the couch and sitting down on it. Harry looked at the fireplace quickly, no one was there. Good. He then turned back to Effy. "Effy, why don't you go upstairs to my dorm and sleep there?" He suggests.

"I wanna stay here for awhile." She says.

_No, no. This isn't how it's supposed to be._ He thinks.

Harry looks back into the flames, and jumps.

Sirius's head was sitting in the fire. If Harry hadn't seen Mr. Diggory do exactly this back in the Weasleys' kitchen, it would have scared him out of his wits. Instead, his face breaking into the first smile he had worn for days, he looked back at Effy then back to Sirius, it was too late. Harry scrambled over to the where Sirius' head was and crouched down by the hearth, and said, "Sirius - how're you doing?"

Sirius looked different from Harry's memory of him. When they had said goodbye, Sirius's face had been gaunt and sunken, surrounded by a quantity of long, black, matted hair - but the hair was short and clean now, Sirius's face was fuller, and he looked younger, much more like the only photograph Harry had of him, which had been taken at the Potters' wedding.

"Never mind me, how are you?" said Sirius seriously. But his lips soon curled up into a smile. "I see your doing quite well. Who is that girl that you have with you, Harry?" He asks, amused.

"Uh, she's my friend. Effy Stonem." Harry says, looking behind him to meet Effy's confused gaze. "But I'm—" For a second, Harry tried to say "fine" - but he couldn't do it. Before he could stop himself, he was talking more than he'd talked in days - about how no one believed he hadn't entered the tournament of his own free will, how Rita Skeeter had lied about him in the Daily Prophet, how he couldn't walk down a corridor without being sneered at - and about Ron, Ron not believing him, Ron's jealousy...

". . . and now Hagrid's just shown me what's coming in the first task, and it's dragons, Sirius, and I'm a goner," he finished desperately.

Harry did not care that Effy was there, he needed to let his feelings out. Sirius was like his father figure, he told him everything. Later on, he would make up something about what Effy was witnessing or tell her the truth.

"Harry..." Sirius says his voice half-amused by the fact that Harry had brought Effy to Gryffindor and half-serious. "could you ask your friend if she could leave us alone for a few moments?" He asks.

Harry nods and turns to Effy. "Eff...you could sleep in my dorm for now, just try not to wake the guys, yeah? They'd probably freak."

"I don't know which one if your dorm." She says simply.

"I'll show you," He says then turns back to Sirius. "I'll be back in a minute." He says before getting up, taking Effy by the hand once more and leading her to his dorm.

"I won't tell." She says when they're standing in front of the door. "I promise."

Harry smiles slightly. "Thanks, Effy." He says.

"You're welcome."

And before Harry knows it, Effy's lips are on his, kissing him. And he's kissing her back. Her lips are soft against his and Harry doesn't know how to react properly seeing as Effy is his first kiss. She tasted like cigarettes and beer and lip gloss. Her hand slowly moved from her sides to his face, her soft fingers tracing the line of his jaw.

Effy was actually _kissing _him.

And when she pulls away from the kiss, Harry can't help but feel a bit disappointed that it is over. But all Effy does is smile her smile and open the dorm door as quietly as possible before slipping inside and closing the door.

Harry stands there a moment longer, the feeling of her lips on his lingering on his lips. When he remembers he had left Sirius, he snaps back into his senses and hurries back down the stairs.

* * *

Ron had been sleeping peacefully when he's awoken by two people talking outside the door. Two voices that he recognized right away. It was Effy and Harry. But what was Effy doing here in Gryffindor Tower when she was a Slytherin?

Ron listens to their conversation, still lying down on his side with his eyes open.

"I won't tell." He hears Effy's voice say. Won't tell about what though? "I promise."

"Thanks, Effy." Harry's voice then says.

"You're welcome."

Then there is no more talking but silence. No one is talks for a long time, Ron notes as he counts the seconds that pass before the door to their door quietly opens. Ron sits up expecting Harry to begin walking in; he was going to give Harry a piece of his damn mind but instead Effy walks in looking messed.

"Ron." Says Effy, stopping right in her tracks. Her voice is surprised. "Hi."

"Hi." Says Ron. "What are you doing here?"

She points her thumb to the door. "I had a party with my friends, got a bit fucked on some MDMA that we managed to get, Harry found me and he said I could crash here for the night." She explains, walking over to the Harry's empty four poster bed and sitting down on it.

"I heard were you two talking outside the room, you said you'd promise him something." Says Ron, throwing the blanket off of him revealing his too small maroon pajammas.

Effy shakes off her leather jacket revealing her knit black top, she puts it on top of Harry's trunk and unbuttons her pants and pulls it down revealing her long lean legs and black and white stripped knickers. Ron can't help but stare.

"It's nothing, Ron." She says, folding her jeans and sitting back on the edge of the four poster bed.

"Where's Harry?"

Effy doesn't answer him this time; she just crawls under the covers making Ron more curious than ever before.

Deciding he'd go for himself to find Harry, Ron stands up from his bed and makes his way towards the door. If Effy wasn't going to tell him where his ma—Harry was then he'd go find him himself.

"Where are you going?" Effy asks. Ron turns around to see that she's gotten out of the bed and is now standing in front of him.

"To see where Harry is." He says with a careless shrug before opening the door and stepping outside, his feet cold against the stone floor.

He could hear Effy's footsteps right behind him, following him. "Ron, wait!" She says, catching up to him as he makes it to the top of the staircase.

"What?" His voice comes out more bitter than he means it too.

Why? It's because he's jealous that when Effy is with Harry she seems to let him in more than she does when with him. She's can strip down to her knickers and sleep in his bed maybe even sleep next to him in her knickers, keeps his secrets and promises never to tell a single soul, she had never done those things to him and it made Ron jealous though he'd never dare admit it aloud.

"Why don't we just go back to bed and Harry will probably come up eventually. It's late anyways." She says.

Ron shakes his head. "No, you can go back if you want, Eff, but I'm going to look for Harry."

* * *

"Go!" he hissed at Sirius. " Go! There's someone coming!"

Harry scrambled to his feet, hiding the fire - if someone saw Sirius's face within the walls of Hogwarts, they would raise an almighty uproar - the Ministry would get dragged in - he, Harry, would be questioned about Sirius's whereabouts –

Harry heard a tiny pop! in the fire behind him and knew Sirius had gone. He watched the bottom of the spiral staircase. Who had decided to go for a stroll at one o'clock in the morning, and stopped Sirius from telling him how to get past a dragon?

It was Ron. Dressed in his maroon paisley pajamas, Ron stopped dead facing Harry across the room, and looked around.

And Effy was standing right behind him. Dressed in a knit black shirt that was worn over the leather jacket from earlier and she is also just wearing white and black striped knickers. Were Ron and her...? No. They couldn't have, could they?

"Who were you talking to?" Ron said.

"What's that got to do with you?" Harry snarled. "What are you doing down here at this time of night?"

"I just wondered where you -" Ron broke off, shrugging. "Nothing. I'm going back to bed."

"Just thought you'd come nosing around, did you?" Harry shouted. He knew that Ron had no idea what he'd walked in on, knew he hadn't done it on purpose, but he didn't care - at this moment he hated everything about Ron, right down to the several inches of bare ankle showing beneath his pajamma trousers.

"Sorry about that," said Ron, his face reddening with anger. "Should've realized you didn't want to be disturbed. I'll let you get on with practicing for your next interview in peace."

Harry seized one of the POTTER REALLY STINKS badges off the table and chucked it, as hard as he could, across the room. It hit Ron on the forehead and bounced off.

"There you go," Harry said. "Something for you to wear on Tuesday. You might even have a scar now, if you're lucky... That's what you want, isn't it?"

He strode across the room toward the stairs; he half expected Ron to stop him, he would even have liked Ron to throw a punch at him, but Ron just stood there in his too-small pajammas, and Harry, having stormed upstairs, lay awake in bed fuming for a long time afterward and didn't hear him come up to bed.

* * *

Effy stood there the entire time; silent, watching Ron and Harry bicker at one another. It strangely reminded her of when Tony and her dad used to fight in the morning, but now her dad and Tony didn't bicker no more because well, her dad fucked off. Maybe that would happen between Harry and Ron, they'd bicker over her, over this Tournament, then when one of them is pushed over the edge they'll just fuck off. Like all the rest.

But she doesn't want that to happen. She doesn't want Harry or Ron to fuck off; she wants them to become best mates again just like in the beginning of the year when she had first met them. If their friendship falls apart, it'll all be on her, it'll be her fault and Hermione knows it, Effy knows it, everyone knows it. She's ruining everything just like Hermione had told her and the guilt was chewing at her insides though she tried to conceal it from others.

When Harry stormed past her, he could see the anger in his eyes as their green and blue eyes locked for just a moment. He was angry at Ron, himself, her, the world. It was all there. And she wanted to after him because when she had kissed him it had been for fun at first but the kiss was actually like something she had never felt before. But Ron held her back, not physically of course but emotionally, he held her back because she knew if she went after Harry she could lose him. And she didn't want too. She had lost too many people in her life before and she wasn't going to let that happen to her again.

If she kissed Ron, right there, right now what would she feel? The same thing she felt when she kissed Harry? Should she dare even try?

But if she kisses them, they'd probably think they're dating know. That's probably what Harry thinks now. But Effy doesn't do that. She doesn't do romance. Why? Because Effy gets fucked and gets fucked up; she's not built for romance.


	8. Apology Not a Chapter

Hey guys,

Sorry I haven't updated Not Yours in a long time. I've gotten writer's block on where I want to take the story but I'm back on track and I will begin posting. But my computer has been sent away to get fixed so I am on my desktop computer for now, so that will mean slower updates. I apologize for those who enjoy the series and have waited for a new chapter for a while now. I also apologize for those who thought this was a chapter.


End file.
